Guyana Consulate in Toronto hosts
Annual Open House for Guyanese
Page 2

Guyana’s Honorary Consul General to Toronto Sattie Sawh and special guests, Geoffrey DaSilva and Danny Doobay,
share a photo moment with other invitees at the Guyana Consulate Open House event in Toronto last Thursday evening.

t a time when the
Guyana government is at odds
with the United States
over a multibillion-dollar
governance
programme, the Donald
Ramotar Administration
on Monday signed on to
a major agreement with
the United Kingdom to
fight rampant drug trafficking in the Caribbean
country.
The agreement is
seen as very significant,
coming amid the standoff
between Washington and
Georgetown over the U.S.
Agency for International
Development
(USAID)
programme and given
that the UK had withdrawn a £3 million security reform programme
back in 2009.

Cooperation

According
to
a
Government Information
Agency (GINA) release,
the agreement reached
on Monday will enhance
cooperation in the fight
against drug trafficking
between the two coun-

Guyana’s Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr Roger
Luncheon and British High Commissioner Andrew Ayre
signing the agreement at the Office of the President in Georgetown

tries.
The agreement was
signed by Head of the
Presidential Secretariat
(HPS),
Dr
Roger
Luncheon and British
High
Commissioner
Andrew Ayre. The agreement will also facilitate
the deepening of ties between the law enforce-

ment agencies of both
countries, and provide
significant technical assistance and training for
Guyanese law enforcement personnel by the
administration of the
UK.
Back in 2009, Guyana
virtually walked away
from the security reform

programme, saying that
aspects of the project
threatened to encroach
on Guyana’s sovereignty.
However, the British
contended
that
the
Guyana government proposed a “fundamentally
different” programme, focused on police modernisation rather than the
holistic reform originally
requested.
The UK’s proposed
project had aimed to
build a sustainable foundation for improving na-

tional security and reducing serious crime in
Guyana by 2011.
To this end, it spoke
to the need for implementation of a national security plan and the security
sector reform and to increase public confidence
in government’s response
to security issues.
It had also explained
that developing a national security policy, as well
as establishing management and oversight
structures and building
capacity within the police force are all crucial
to responding to serious
crime.
The proposal had set
out almost three dozen
activities with detailed
milestones and specific
timelines until 2011.
Towards the development of the security reform strategy, the targets include a series of
public stakeholder consultations and training
to strengthen parliamentary oversight, throughout the lifetime of the
project.
These were aimed at
building government capacity for managing the
reforms, developing a

national security policy
and a reform strategy,
establishing accountability and oversight of the
security sector, strengthening the professional standards and service delivery of the police
force and establishing
an effective structure
for managing the reform
project.

Proposal

The proposal lists
specific activities to be
carried out in each area,
ranging from the recruitment of staff, the design of legislative strategies,
parliamentary
programmes to public
consultations and workshops.
The proposal also had
identified potential risks
to these processes, including “weak” government and police force
commitment to and ownership of holistic reform;
the unwillingness of civil society to participate
in consultations and/or
consultations that are
not inclusive and therefore compromised; and
a lack of commitment by
Members of Parliament
(MPs) to their oversight
role. (Guyana Times)

Guyana Consulate in Toronto hosts
Annual Open House for Guyanese
By Ravendra Madholall

T

he
Guyana
Consulate
Open
House event in
Toronto last Thursday
attracted a large and
supportive
gathering,
much to the admiration
of the organisers and
particularly the two special guests, who both at
different periods, previously held the post of
Consul General.

During the event at
the Consulate’s head office, Victoria Park and
401 Highway, Geoffrey
Da Silva and Danny
Doobay
congratulated the current Consul
General Sattie Sawh for
her achievements in the
past year. Sawh also
used the occasion to collect non-perishable food
items for North York
Daily Food Bank.
Da Silva was appointed by the late
Guyanese
President
Dr. Cheddi Jagan as
the Honourary Consul
General to Toronto in
1994, and four year later as an adviser in the
Office of President under
Janet Jagan. In 1999,
he became Guyana’s
Tourism, Industry and
Trade Minister and in
2001, Chief Executive
Officer of the Guyana
Office for Investment.
Currently, he serves as
Guyana’s Ambassador to
Venezuela.
“I [am] extremely happy to be here in Toronto
to share the opening
event with you guys. I really admire the unity in
the Guyanese diaspora
which reflects a great image for our country,” Da
Silva told the gathering.
He reflected, “when I
was Consul General here
I saw the same level of
commitment and wiliness by the Guyanese to

support our country by
investing back home.”
Doobay
also
expressed similar sentiments.
“I am indeed happy to
be invited for this special
occasion and as a new
year has already begun,
I know Sattie (Sawh) and
her colleagues will work
harder in 2014 to help
their fellow Guyanese
in various ways. They
have continued to provide invaluable support
as well,” Doobay stated.
Sawh, in her remarks, thanked the special guests and congratulated her colleagues in
Toronto for their hard
work and dedication
during 2013. She also
made special mention
of those who contributed to the Guyana Day
event held last August at
Centennial venue.
Sawh observed that
Guyana will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary
of Independence in 2016
while noting that plans
for those celebrations are
on the agenda for this
year.
Meanwhile,
Bas
Balkissoon, the MPP
for Scarborough-Rouge
River, was also a special invitee at the event,
where he expressed confidence that Guyanese
living in Canada will continue to work in harmony
and unity.

t would seem that everyone agrees that it is a changing world,
excepting the countries that dominate the decision-making
process at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). More
than three years ago, in an apparent shift, the IMF’s governing
body had agreed to reform the organisation’s governance so
as to better reflect the increasing economic weight of dynamic
emerging market economies in the world economy.
But the changes that have been made are so insignificant,
the old status quo still dominates. This is not an inconsequential
circumstance for the Caribbean, and, in fact, all the countries
that constitute the Emerging Market and Developing Countries
(EMDCs). Jamaica and Barbados, for instance, are having to
jump through the old hoops of the IMF because of structural
conditions that have impacted negatively on their economies,
and which could have received a more sympathetic hearing if
the EMDCs’ representation on the board had been greater.
These countries have become increasingly frustrated
with Western states, as the latter have clung to power in the
IMF and other important international economic governance
organisations in the same proportion they divvied them up after
WWII. The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) have
evidently become so frustrated at the intransigence of the West
that they are now in advanced-stage negotiations to establish
a Development Bank and a Contingent Reserve Arrangement.
The West will carry a heavy responsibility for eroding global
multilateral governance if it continues to drag its heels on the
needed adjustments.
Some may believe the IMF has already taken steps to raise
the voting power of the “emerging” market. In 2010, its member
countries agreed both to boost the lending power of the IMF and
to shift 6.2 per cent of quota shares, and hence voting power,
in favour of “dynamic” EMDCs. In March 2010, then-Managing
Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn hailed this agreement as
“the most fundamental governance overhaul in the IMF’s 65year history and the biggest-ever shift of influence in favour of
emerging market and developing countries”.
Moreover, the key shift from developed countries to EMDCs
is only 2.6 per cent, the rest being shifts within the category
of emerging market and developing countries from “overrepresented” EMDCs to “underrepresented” EMDCs. Such a
small change comes nowhere close to aligning shares of votes
with any plausible measure of economic weight. If economic
weight is measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), then
the agreed 2010 reforms will still leave very large discrepancies
between shares of economic weight and shares of voting power.
Voting power-to-GDP ratios vary five-fold, from 0.45 in the
case of China to 2.15 for Belgium. This results in the aggregate
voting power of the EU4 being higher than the aggregate voting
power of the four BRICs, despite the fact that the GDP of the
BRICs, as a share of world GDP, is almost twice as large (24.0 per
cent) as the GDP of the EU4 (13.4 per cent).
Additionally, while most member states agree that, in the
interests of simplicity and consistency, economic weight should
be measured by GDP, the Europeans insist that economic weight
is not just GDP but also “openness”. Intra-Europe trade boosts
Europe’s weight, while intra-U.S. or intra-China trade does not
boost the weights of those countries. The BRICS argue that if
measures beyond GDP are to be included in the determination
of quota (and vote) shares, criteria of “contributions to global
growth” should be among them.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) was the one multilateral
organisation where the smaller countries had a measure of
influence. But with the developed countries willing to sideline
the Doha Development Round and push their mega-regional
trade blocs, it appears that, along with those same countries
refusing to open up the IMF, the structural factors that have
consigned many nations in the region to low growth rates will
remain unchanged.

A Jamaican street performer displays his skills prior to the Tessanne Chin’s Official
Homecoming Concert in Kingston, Jamaica, on Sunday. (Jamaica Gleaner photo)

Historic religious appointment

Dominican-born priest
elevated to a Cardinal
T

T’s Archbishop Joseph
Harris Sunday welcomed the announcement by the Vatican of the
imminent appointment of the
first-ever Cardinal from the
English-speaking Caribbean,
Archbishop Kelvin Edward
Felix.
“It is a great honour for
the Caribbean,” Archbishop
Harris said in an interview
with TT media.
“It is the first time that an
Archbishop from the Englishspeaking Caribbean has been
made a Cardinal.”
Felix,
81,
Archbishop
Emeritus of Castries, St
Lucia, is a Dominican and will
be made Cardinal at a public
Papal consistory on February
22nd at the St. Peter Basilica
in Rome. The date marks the
Feast of the Chair of Saint
Peter. The following day,
Pope Francis will preside at
a solemn concelebration with
several new Cardinals. A private consistory with all the
Cardinals will be held prior,
on February 20 and 21.
After the Angelus, Pope
Francis said, “I will have the
joy of holding a consistory,
during which I will name 16
new Cardinals, who, coming
from 12 countries from every
part of the world, represent
the deep ecclesial relationship between the Church of
Rome and the other Churches
throughout the world.” Harris
said it was notable that Felix
was from Dominica.
“What is interesting is
that Archibishop Felix is
not St Lucian, he is from
Dominica and is retired,”

the Archbishop said. “He
is the retired Archbishop
of Castries, but lives in
Dominica at the moment,
and Dominica became a
Diocese in 1850, the same
year Trinidad and Tobago
became
an
Archdiocese.
But Dominica has the distinction of giving the first
Caribbean Archbishop of
the Church: Bishop Joseph
Bowers, Bishop of Accra in
Ghana. And now, they have
the distinction of giving
the first Cardinal from the
English speaking Region of
the Church. It is a great honour for Dominica and all the
Caribbean.”
Harris noted that a
Cardinal is effectively an advisor to the Pope. He suggested this poses an opportunity
for advancement of interests
of the Region.
“We hope that in the
days to come, Archbishop
Felix will be able to let the
Pope know a little more
about the Caribbean than
he knows already,” Harris
said. “We would expect that
with a Cardinal who would
be in Rome for various issues that the Vatican would
learn a little bit more about
the Caribbean and the issues
which we face here.”
Archbishiop
Nuncio
to the Antilles Episcopal
Conference (AEC) Nicola
Girasoli also welcomed the
news, expressing “profound
gratitude”
“We express our profound
gratitude to Pope Francis for
having considered, for first
time in the history of the

AEC, to appoint as Cardinal
a member of the Episcopate
of this Region,” he said in a
press release.
“This appointment is also
a great sign of appreciation
for the tireless and dedicated
pastoral ministry of all our
Bishops and for the Church
of this beloved Region. For
the first time one member
of the Episcopate the Region
of AEC will be elevated to
the dignity of Cardinal. We
all rejoice and congratulate
Archbishop Felix for this appointment which, as Pope
Francis mentioned..., is an
acknowledgment for his long
and dedicated service to the
Holy See and to the Church.”
Girasoli added, “we pray for
the new Cardinal, and for the
pastoral ministry of all our
Bishops in the Region.”
In April 2006, Felix miraculously escaped death
on a Wednesday night when
a 26-year-old man, armed
with a knife, attempted to
slash his throat outside the
Roman Catholic Cathedral in
Castries, St Lucia.
Felix was attacked as he
was preparing to enter his
car. His Roman Collar was
cut off his neck. According
to the St Lucia Police, the
Roman Collar saved the
Archbishop’s life.
While he will be the first
Cardinal from the Englishspeaking Caribbean, Felix
will not be the first Cardinal
from the Region as a whole.
Another Cardinal, Cuba’s
Jaime
Lucas
Ortega
y
Alamino, was made Cardinal
in 1994. (TT Newsday)

week ending January 16, 2014

Ontario’s funeral-home
watchdog suspends
Benisasia’s licences

T

he
Ontario
Board of Funeral
Services
has
suspended the licences previously granted
to Benisasia Funeral
Home Inc., which operates
facilities
in
Mississauga
and
Toronto.
The watchdog authority has also since
filed a notice of proposal to permanently
revoke the licences of
the two funeral establishments under the
Funeral, Burial and
Cremation Services Act
(2002).
According to the
board, this action follows a lengthy investigation into the operating practices of the
two Benisasia funeral
homes.
BOFS
Registrar,
Doug Simpson, said the
supervisory body “take
its role of protecting
consumers very seriously and we are acting in the public interest…" even as the
investigation
contin-

ues.
“The funeral establishments may appeal
both the immediate
suspension and the notice to revoke licences
to the Licence Appeal
Tribunal,” the board
has advised.
It added that the allegations
prompting
the suspension and notice to revoke the two
funeral-home licences
can be disclosed to the
public as part of the appeal process.
In the meantime,
the board has taken
steps to ensure that a
team of qualified funeral directors manage and honour all contracts, which existed
with the funeral homes
at the time of the suspension.
Persons with prepaid contracts or with
cremated
remains
under the care of
Benisasia have been
asked to make contact
with the board.

Rare action

The board however

observed that that the
“decision to suspend
operations and revoke
a licence of a funeral
home is rare in an industry with an exemplary record of compliance.”
In 2011 and 2012,
the
board
reported
more than 93 percent
compliance rate of inspected funeral establishments. Less than
two percent were subject to any action for
non-compliance.
According to reports, owner of the funeral establishments,
Prabhjot Kaur Johal,
has already signalled
her intentions to fight
the board’s attempt to
permanently
revoke
the licences. She has
also expressed confidence in winning the
appeal.
The Mississauga location of Benisasia has
been licensed since
2002, and the Toronto
location on Queen St.
West has been licensed
since 2007.

5

| www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

6

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | week ending January 16, 2014

News
week ending January 16, 2014

| www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Georgetown swamped
M

ost
of
Georgetown,
Guyana,
was
under shin-deep water
following heavy rains
that started Monday
evening and continued
throughout Tuesday.
With more showers
predicted, city residents
are bracing themselves
for further suffering as
the dysfunctional Mayor
and City Council is unable to respond.
Flood-prone
areas such as the Bourda
and Stabroek markets,
along with communities like Alberttown,
Q u e e n s t o w n ,
A l b o u y s t o w n ,
Charlestown, Kitty and
Central
Georgetown,
to name a few, were all
flooded.
Caribbean
Times
International
visited
some of the affected areas and spoke with the
residents about the damage and losses they suffered.

These persons are taking measures to prevent the water
from entering their store in Georgetown

Bourda Market

The Bourda Market
area, as usual, was severely flooded causing
stall owners and vendors
to suffer major losses in
goods. While the market
was shut down, flooded
roads and persistent rain
did not deter vendors
from lining the streets
and buyers from traversing the waters to make
purchases.

A single-parent vendor, Deon Hamer, said
because of the high level
of water, some of her produce in the stall got damaged.
“We can’t sell them to
people, them thing gah
throw away…also at my
home in Vigilance, I lost
half bale cement because
the water destroy it and
I only buy it Friday. I
is a single parent and

it hard, now I hustling
to build me house,” she
pointed out.

Blockages, garbage

The woman noted
that she had been selling at the market for
45 years and every time
it rains a little heavily,
they face the same fate.
She said the contractors
are the ones who cause
blockages of the drains,
as well as garbage.

7

- as Guyana battles
heavy rains

Another
vendor,
Camille, vented her anger at the condition in
which they have to work
to earn a living. “How
long we could go on like
this? We need proper
drainage. There is a lot
of garbage in the market
and this could give we
bad bacteria in our skin,”
she stated.
The angry woman
continued that every
morning and afternoon
they have to pay rent
and still, every time it
rains they have to be in
floodwaters. “What we
paying them for? They
suppose to make sure we
get proper drainage…
this is what we have to
go through to make our
living,” she said.
Walking with his wife
to do their weekly market run, 69-year-old Alex
Persaud told this newspaper that it is sad to see
the city in this state every time it rains.
“We need to do some-

thing about the drainage in the city because
every time rain fall, we
get flood. The authorities
should look into this; because people have to earn
a living; when things like
this happen it causes a
lot of inconvenience for
them. It is not healthy
for Guyanese people to
have to be in flooded waters so often,” stressed
Persaud.

Downpours

According
to
the
Agriculture
Ministry,
the heavy downpour in
Guyana saw water accumulation been recorded in several areas in
Regions Two and Four.
Among the areas affected are: Pomeroon,
particularly
Lillydale,
Marlboro,
Martindale,
parts of Jacklow, David
James Scheme, parts of
Charity Housing Scheme
and farmlands along the
bank of Dredge Creek.
Henrietta is affected only
in low residential areas.

Guyana’s new Ombudsman sworn in
G

uyana’s
newly
appointed
Ombudsman,
Justice Winston Moore
was sworn in on Monday
at the Office of the
President and was assured of the government’s full support in the
discharge of his duties.
Moore, took the Oath
of Office in the presence
of the Head of State,
Donald Ramotar, Leader
of the Opposition, David
Granger,
Attorney

General
and
Legal
Affairs Minister, Anil
Nandlall,
representatives from the legal fraternity and his family
members.
The president, in
congratulating the new
Ombudsman, said that
this post had been vacant for a long time and
as such, some of its functions were being executed by the constitutional
court. He urged the public to make full use of the

services that this new office will provide.
Meanwhile, he also
informed that his government is working aggressively to full the other constitutional posts
that are still vacant.
This process, he said,
should be completed in
the near future. The new
Ombudsman, a former
judge sought to clear up
a few issues surrounding
his office with regards
to staffing and resourc-

Guyana’s Budget cut case

Full Court says it cannot hear
Opposition Leader’s appeal

G

uyana’s Full Court on Monday
ruled that it does not have jurisdiction over a case on whether Opposition Leader David Granger
should be excluded from a case on
whether the opposition had a right to
cut the 2012 national budget.
It therefore said that acting Chief
Justice Ian Chang’s ruling stands, but
Granger’s lawyer Basil Williams said
the matter would be taken to the Appeal
Court and if possible, the Caribbean
Court of Justice.
Justice James Bovell-Drakes and
Justice Rishi Persaud in a brief ruling
said that the Full Court does not have
the jurisdiction to overrule or go against
a decision handed down by the chief justice.
The two judges had presided over
the Full Court hearing of an appeal
filed by Granger, challenging the ruling
of Justice Chang.
Justice Chang on June 18 last, ruled
that Granger and Finance Minister, Dr
Ashni Singh will be barred from the
2012 budget cuts case.
The two judges ruling concurs
with initial contentions expressed by

Attorney General Anil Nandlall that
the appeal was ill conceived. Nandlall
said that the order made by the acting
chief justice was final and brought all
matters of contention to an end between
the attorney general and the two defendants in the High Court.
He explained that the law states
that when a final order is made by a
High Court judge, the next court to approach is the Court of Appeal; however, the Opposition appealed to the Full
Court.
As such, he noted that his first submission was for the Full Court to satisfy itself whether it has jurisdiction over
the decision of the acting chief justice.
The attorney general noted now that
the appeal is concluded, the substantive
case will continue with the hope of a final judgment as soon as possible.
On the other hand, APNU Attorney
Basil Williams expressed his dissatisfaction at the ruling, stating that other
than the ruling being short, the judges
only ruled on the question of jurisdiction and undermined arguments advanced on right of fair hearing for the
opposition leader. (Guyana Times)

Guyana’s Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, President Donald
Ramotar, newly sworn-in Ombudsman Winston Moore and Opposition Leader
David Granger after Moore was sworn in on Monday at the Office of the President

es. He has been working
closely with the Public
Service Ministry and has
since submitted a list of
requirements for the of-

fice to function effectively.
Guyana has been
without an Ombudsman
for eight years. The last

person who held this
post was Justice Sheik
Mohammed in 2005, a
former Supreme Court
Judge. (Guyana Times)

8

News

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com |

week ending January 16, 2014

Jamaica's energy ranks 112th

J

amaica’s high energy cost and power infrastructure
ranked it next to Haiti
or 112th globally, according to ‘The Global
Energy
Architecture
Performance
Index
Report 2014’ published
by the World Economic
Forum (WEF).
Norway topped the
list in a report that described Jamaica's energy infrastructure as
facilitating underdevelopment.
“The region's lowest performer is Haiti,
which ranks in the lower quartile of the index
with a score of [38 per
cent] narrowly preceded
by Jamaica,” stated the
report published by the
European-based WEF,
which also publishes
the renowned Global
Competitiveness Report.
“For both countries,
their geography and
lack of economic devel-

The report noted that Jamaica's low growth and development was
"largely due to the economic impact of import dependence and the
lack of domestic energy supply". (Jamaica Observer file photo)

opment create significant
challenges-chal-

lenges that in Haiti's
case were further com-

pounded by the 2010
earthquake that de-

- high cost, poor
infrastructure close to Haiti’s
stroyed the already limited existing power infrastructure.”
The report was last
published two years
ago, but contains a new
methodology which negates any rankings comparisons, according to
the authors.
Countries
are
now ranked on an
Energy
Architecture
Performance
Index
(EAPI)--a tool which
monitors energy accessibility along with economic
and
environmental sustainability.
Jamaica scored 0.39, or
39 per cent.
"Energy architecture
is defined as the integrated physical system
of energy sources, carriers and demand sectors
that are shaped by government, industry and
civil society," the report
indicated.
It
added
that
Jamaica's low growth

and development was
"largely due to the economic impact of import
dependence and the
lack of domestic energy supply". The island's
fuel imports are equivalent to 16 per cent of the
country's output.
Jamaica and the
Dominican
Republic
were the lowest performers in the indicator
for net energy imports,
with an average score
some three times worse
than others in the region at six per cent, compared with the average
of 21 per cent, according
to the report.
Another area of concern included the quality of electricity supply at 4.4 out of seven.
Renewable or green energy accounts for some
18 per cent of energy output but the island can do
more, according to the
researchers. (Excerpted
from Jamaica Observer)

Deadline extended for Barbados layoffs
T
he Barbados government has extended by 18 days,
the deadline for laying
off public servants following talks with labour
unions on Monday.
Prime
Minister
Freundel Stuart said
the delay would allow the Ministry of the
Civil Service to generate a list of names for
those who would be retrenched as his ad-

ministration seeks to
turn around an ailing
economy. He said the
unions—the Barbados
Workers Union (BWU)
and the National Union
of
Public
Workers
(NUPW)—would be involved in the process.
“We had set the 15th
of January for the taking of the first bit of action. That date must
now be vacated because
of the challenges posed

to the Ministry of the
Civil Service in even
generating the list to be
affected,” Stuart said.
“But we are certain now
that by the end of this
month, we should be
able to deal with those
issues definitively and
finally and of course between now and the end
of the month, the union
will have an opportunity to further report on
those issues,” he added.

Last month, the government announced the
plan to cut public service jobs in a bid to save
Bds$143 million. It said
it would also institute a
“strict programme of attrition” across the central public service, filling posts only where it
is absolutely unavoidable, over the next five
years, ending 20182019. The government
said it intends to trim

the service by 3,000 jobs
and had hoped to begin
laying off workers by
January 15.
Prime
Minister
Stuart said the layoffs
would not include both
breadwinners from the
same household even
as he insisted that the
layoffs were unavoidable. He said a humane
approach would be taken in preparing the list.
(Barbados Advocate)

Barbados’ Prime
Minister Freundel Stuart.
(Nations file photo)

Work to start soon on TT$112 million Tobago hotel

C

onstruction
will
begin in the first
quarter of this
year on one of two new hotels planned for Tobago.
The four-star Indigo Bay
Resort, which will have
79 suites, will be located
at Little Rockley Bay in
Lambeau.
The driving force behind this new hotel development is businessman
Chris James, vice-president of the Tobago Hotel

and Tourism Association,
who is investing TT$112
million in the project.
Tracy
DavidsonCelestine, Secretary of
Tourism at the Tobago
House of Assembly (THA),
gave details of the project when she addressed a
session at the Caribbean
Travel Marketplace conference in Montego Bay,
Jamaica, Monday.
She said the property will “utilise the ambi-

ance” of Little Rockly Bay
as much as possible.
“Tobago is actively
pursuing new hotel development. We are seeking to persuade investors
to come to Tobago and encouraging investors currently there to expand
and to move into new development. And that has
not fallen on deaf ears,”
Davidson-Celestine said.
Completion of the resort is set for the end of

2015. The other hotel to
be constructed in Tobago
is a 66-unit property
which is also due to open
next year.
Hotel
projects
in
Trinidad
over
the
next year include the
Financial
Complex
Suites Limited in Portof-Spain and the Capital
Plaza
Hotel,
located
across from the Port-ofSpain waterfront, which
is undertaking extensive

refurbishment of its 243
guest rooms. Completion
of Capital Plaza is expected next January
and it is to be franchised
into the Radisson Hotels
International Inc brand.
Caribbean
Travel
Marketplace, the largest
and most important business-to-business marketing event for the region’s
hospitality industry, is
being attended by 1,200
delegates from more than

26 countries in North
America, South America
and Europe. The trade
show matches suppliers,
such as hotels, restaurants and tourist boards,
with buyers—tour operators and wholesalers—in
pre-scheduled business
appointments,
where
parties discuss existing
contracts and develop
packages and contracts
for future business. (TT
Guardian)

ormer
premier
of the Turks and
Caicos
Islands
(TCI) Michael Misick,
was released on conditional bail by the TCI
Supreme Court late on
Monday.
Later Monday evening, he made an appearance and spoke at
a church service, in the
company of current premier, Rufus Ewing. His
address at the event included an obvious po-

litical component, calling on his audience to
“take our country back”,
apparently echoing the
position of the current
elected government as
recently reiterated in
the governor’s throne
speech to the House of
Assembly of “readying
our nation and our people for the move toward
independence.”
Meanwhile, Misick
now faces charges of
conspiracy to receive

bribes, conspiracy to defraud government, and
money laundering related to his time in office.
He will appear next at
the TCI Supreme Court
for a sufficiency hearing on Friday, 7 March
2014.
Misick’s bail application was initially rejected by a magistrate
on Tuesday, 7 January
2014,
before
being
granted on appeal by
the Supreme Court lat-

er in the day.
His bail was reportedly set at set at $10
million, with a substantial portion in cash and
unencumbered property
sureties for the remainder.
While
the
terms
of Misick’s bail were
agreed, the conditions
were not met last week,
and he was remanded in
custody at the prison in
Grand Turk, from where
he was released on

Monday after ten people
were reportedly found
as sureties, who put up
free and clear properties
valued at over $12 million.
Although the chief
justice was said to have
ordered that the terms
of Misick’s bail are not
to be made public, these
were in fact widely publicised by local media
both before and after
the court proceedings.
(Caribbean News)

News
week ending January 16, 2014

9

| www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Several agencies partner to curb suicide in Guyana

U

nder
pressure
to
do
something
about
the spiralling suicide
rate in Guyana, Health
Minister,
Dr
Bheri
Ramsaran said a multisectoral approach is
needed to tackle the social scourge.
At the time the health
minister was meeting
with the Chief Medical
Officer, Dr Shamdeo
Persaud and Guyana’s
chief psychiatrist Bhiro
Harry at his Brickdam
Office, discussing the issue of “mental health”.
A mere 13 days into
the new year, close to
20 persons had already
committed suicide while
several others are recovering after failed attempts.
According
to
the
health minister, suicide is not only a mental health problem, but a
cultural issue as well.

Collaboration

Moving
forward,
he said, the Health

Ministry will be working
closely with the human
services, education and
home affairs ministries,
along with non-governmental organisations to
reduce the instances of
suicide.
Persaud, for his part,
said Guyana has a high
suicide rate, noting that
while many females attempt suicide, males are
most times successful in
executing the act.
At this point in time,
Dr Persaud said the
ministry is strengthening the “Gate Keepers
Programme” to build
capacity among faithbased
organisations,
sport organisation, commercial entities and support groups in communities countrywide, with
major emphasis placed
on suicide-prone communities.
He added the ministry will continue to equip
persons with the requisite skills and knowledge
needed to identify de-

cases in the country.

Recent cases

Guyana’s Health Minister,
Dr Bheri Ramsaran

pression and offer counselling to persons who
are at risk of committing
suicide.
He reported that last
year, the Gate Keepers
Programme focused on
Regions Three and Six,
in addition to communities along East Coast
Demerara, positing that
major emphasis was
placed on males.
The Gate Keepers
Programme was established by former Health
Minister,
Dr
Leslie

University student
Toneisha Edwards
succumbed at the New
Amsterdam Hospital
after drinking gramoxone
on Old Year’s Day.

Ramsammy.
Currently,
the
Health Ministry is developing guidelines to
suicide prevention with
attention being given to
reintegration of victims
into society. Chief psychiatrist Harry said “suicide prevention is everybody’s business”, hence,
all should play apart in
reducing the number of

Last
Monday,
Toneisha Edwards, 19, a
student of the University
of Guyana, succumbed
at the New Amsterdam
Hospital after drinking
gramoxone on Old Year’s
Day.
Two
days
later,
Nandranie Oudit, 32,
of Number 68 Village,
Corentyne, Berbice, died
at the Skeldon Public
Hospital after ingesting
a poisonous substance.
She committed suicide
five weeks after her
16-year-old son killed
himself over a sour love
affair.
He was a third form
student at the Tagore
Memorial High School.
Oudit’s father and sister
had also committed suicide some years ago, reports indicate.
On Saturday, 15-yearold Leah Grant, a student of the Brickdam
Secondary School, died
at
the
Georgetown

Public Hospital after ingesting a poisonous substance at school last
Friday. Several other
persons have reportedly
attempted to take their
lives since the start of
the year.

Suicide rate

The global suicide
rate has increased by a
whopping 60 per cent
over the past 45 years,
with the majority of the
victims being men.
This is according
to the World Health
Organisation. Guyana
is no exception. In 2003,
it ranked sixth in the
world, with 42.4 men in
every 100,000 committing suicide while women stood at 12.1 in every
100,000.
By 2006, the figures
had dropped with 39
men in every 100,000
taking their lives while
it was estimated that
13.4 in every 100,000
women committed suicide. (Excerpted from
Guyana Times)

Jamaican company opens first call centre in Grand Bahama

J

amaican
offshore
company,
Island
Outsourcers,
has
planted its seeds in The
Bahamas.
Last Thursday, the
Montego Bay, St Jamesbased
company
unveiled that Caribbean
island's first call centre in Freeport, Grand
Bahama,
providing
employment
for
65
Bahamians.
The opening was
officially
launched
by Bahamian Prime
Minister Perry Christie,
Minister of Tourism Obie
Wilchombe, and Island
Outsourcers founder and
CEO Yoni Epstein.
Epstein
told
Jamaican media Sunday
that the contract he had
was with the Bahamas
Tourist Board.
"We will be taking
inbound sales and cus-

tomer-service calls, as
well as making outbound
calls to travel agents," he
said, adding that a second contract was signed
with Bahamas Telecom
in which telecommunications firm LIME has a 51
per cent stake.
"We are doing outbound telesales and market research for Bahamas
Telecom," he noted.
The Bahamian tourist board was the first in
the region to bring home
its call centre, where its
own people sell its products. Esptein said this
was a plus given that the
"Bahamas would know
the product that they are
selling".

Robust infrastructure

One of the fastestgrowing business processes outsourcing companies in the region,
Island Outsourcers cur-

rently
employs
120
Jamaicans at its Montego
Freezone call centre.
According to Epstein,
the company's expansion
locally and regionally
rested solely on the pillars of robust infrastructure, an experienced
management team, and
qualified frontline professionals, who built a solid
foundation, enabling the
organisation's success in
delivering services at a
bigger scale and to a wider market.
He said as a group,
growth has been significant in the Caribbean.
"Taking our two sites
into consideration, we
seek to increase that
growth further in 2014,"
he stated, revealing that
the long-term goal was to
increase the staff count
in The Bahamas to 600.
Admitting that The

Trinidadian man shoots wife, child
and then kills himself in Florida

A

Trinidadian man, who had migrated to the United States several years ago, shot and critically
wounded his common-law wife and stepson at a suburban Boca Raton, Florida
home last Friday night, and later turned
his weapon on himself and died of a selfinflicted gunshot wound.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office
said the woman and her son were rushed in
critical condition to Delray Medical Center,
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. Both
are expected to survive, according to the
Sherrif’s Office spokesperson Teri Barbera.
The dead man has been identified as
Dexter Ramdass, 37, formerly of Beach
Road in Palo Seco, south Trinidad. He was
the father of a teenage son.
Relatives of Ramdass told TT media, he
was going through domestic problems and
had returned to Trinidad where he spent
the Christmas holidays. Relatives said

his common-law wife, identified only as
Melissa, had also returned to Trinidad, but
spent the holidays with her parents in La
Brea. The relatives said Ramdass, a truck
driver, had expressed an unwillingness to
return to Florida.
The shooting took place shortly after
7 pm in the Villa San Ramon neighbourhood south of Clint Moore Road and west
of Florida’s Turnpike. It apparently followed a domestic dispute, the Sheriff’s
Office said.
The woman, whom neighbours said
was about 40 years old, was apparently
shot in the leg, while the boy—one of two
children at the residence—may have been
shot in the abdomen. The other child, a
girl, was not harmed.
Mother and son were taken to the
hospital as trauma alerts, said Captain
Albert Borroto, Fire Rescue spokesman.
(Excerpted from TT Newsday)

Bahamas offered better
incentives than Jamaica,
he said one of the main
reasons for expansion
was access to human
capital and proximity to
the United States mainland.

Welcoming
the
Jamaican-owned company to his country, Christie
said: "Consumers and potential visitors will be
prompted by Bahamas
television or print ads to
call 1-800-Bahamas with

their questions."
He added: "When they
call this line, they will be
greeted and assisted on
the other end by warm,
friendly, and professional Bahamian voices."
(Jamaica Gleaner)

10

News

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com |

week ending January 16, 2014

Sixteen-year-old pregnant for dad in Trinidad

A

father awaiting
trial on three incest charges involving his 16-year-old
daughter appeared in
a Trinidad court last
Thursday on another charge of having sex
with the same child,
who is now pregnant.
Princes Town Senior
Magistrate
Debra
Quintyne denied the
51-year-old father of
five bail, as she questioned why the girl was
allowed to stay in that
environment. “Society

is failing our children.
She ought to have been
removed from that environment,” the magistrate said.
Legal
officer
for
the Southern Police
Division
Ramdath
Phillip, who is prosecuting the matter, said that
issue was the subject
of a separate inquiry.
“She is placed back in
the environment to suffer further abuse. That
is
heart-wrenching,
that is a life destroyed,”
Quintyne said. The fa-

ther, a mason, was arrested last Wednesday
night and charged by
WPC Woods.
The charge alleged
that on a date unknown
between September 1
and September 30, 2013,
the father had sexual
intercourse with a girl,
16 years of age, knowing her to be his blood
relation. The offence allegedly took place at the
father’s
Barrackpore
home. He was not called
upon to plead to the
charge, which is strict-

ly indictable. Objecting
to bail, Phillip said the
victim is the daughter
of the accused and is 16
weeks pregnant.
Citing Section 6 (2)
of the Bail Act, Phillip
said the accused had
five pending matters,
three for incest and two
other sexual offences,
which are before the
High Court. Phillip said
the 16-year-old girl is
also the victim in those
matters. The father did
not have an attorney.
Asked why he should

be granted bail, the father said, “I did not do
the crime which they
said I did.” He told the
magistrate that his
daughter, whom he referred to as “the girl,”
lived with her mother,
but on October 1 her
mother put her out.
The father claimed
that he, his son-in-law
and three grandsons
picked up his daughter
after her mother told
him to come for her. The
mother was in court. In
addition, the father ar-

gued that he only had
one pending matter.
After denying him bail,
the magistrate asked
the prosecutor to do his
best to have the matter expedited. Phillip
said the prosecution
had eight witnesses and
would be proceeding by
way of paper committal.
Advising the father
of his right to apply to
a judge in chambers for
bail, the magistrate remanded him into custody until February 5. (TT
Guardian)

Jamaica’s early childhood teachers want more money

O

n the heels of an increase in Jamaica’s
National
Minimum
Wage, early childhood education teachers also want the
government to increase the
subsidy that it gives to them.
According to chairman of
the St Ann Early Childhood
Parish Board Devon Evans,
the organisation is "appealing
to the Minister of Education
Ronald Thwaites to increase
the salary subsidy for basic
school teachers across the island."
Evans, during a recent interview, said that "the salary
subsidy, which is a monthly
allowance paid to teachers in
recognised basic schools, has
not been increased since 2007,
while over that period, the
minimum wage has increased
at least five times."
Basic schools depend on

the fees of students to pay
their staff. However, sometimes the fees are not paid on
time, thus posing a challenge.
Evans said that several basic school teachers were
not paid last December, due
to late or non-payment of
fees, with some teachers just
receiving payments since
the start of this school term.
Many schools try to raise
money through fund-raising
activities. However, the challenges remain, Evans said.

Difficult

He said that with most basic schools continuing to find
it difficult to pay their staff
as a result of the country's
economic challenges, these
teachers have been left to depend solely on the salary subsidy as their main source of
income.
Evans revealed that the

salary subsidy ranges from a
low of Ja$14,000 to a maximum of Ja$25, 000 per month

based on the qualification of
each educator. Evans pointed out that in most instances, this is the only income
teachers of the majority of the
schools are guaranteed.
Evans, who is also vicepresident of the Jamaica
Early Childhood Association,
said that the salary subsidy
should not be below the minimum wage at the lower end,
and above Ja$30,000 monthly
for qualified teachers.
He recalled that from
2008, the association has
been bringing the matter to
the attention of the Education
Ministry and is yet to receive
what it considers a favourable
response.
"It is now full time for
the ministry to recognise the
plight of the country's basic
school teachers and to show
some recognition for this cat-

egory of teachers for the important role they have been
playing in the building of this
nation," Evans said.
In the meantime, Joyce
Nelson Lindsay, president
of the Early Childhood Staff
Association, said the organisation would like to have a
meeting with the education
minister to discuss the plight
now faced by the teachers.
The association head said
that teachers at the basic
school level should be lauded for the sacrifice that many
make in ensuring that children are educated, in spite of
not receiving a salary for several months.
Nelson Lindsay said that
some teachers are now leaving the system because they
are finding it difficult to manage financially. (Excerpted
from Jamaica Observer)

Wife’s lover bites off husband’s lips in Guyana
T
he bottom lip of a
man was allegedly bitten off by his
wife’s lover during an attack at his cousin’s place,
Lot 48 D’Urban, Lodge,
Georgetown, Guyana, in
the wee hours of Tuesday
morning last.
Carland
Hercules,
50,
formerly
of
Thomas Street, Kitty,
Georgetown, is presently
taking treatment for the
injury at the Georgetown
Public Hospital and is

due to undergo surgery
on January 23.
According to information received, Hercules
and his wife Dianne tied
the knot about four years
ago, but shortly after, he
learnt that the woman
was having an affair with
another man in the area.
Despite knowing this,
he continued the relationship for the sake of
their four children.
However, as the situation worsened, the cou-

ple separated, resulting in him moving out
the house and taking up
residence at a cousin on
D’Urban Street, Lodge.
On the morning of
January 7, the man woke
up about 00:55h to use
the washroom when he
heard voices on the platform and thought it was
strange and went to
check. As he opened the
door, he saw his wife and
her lover and inquired
about the purpose of

their visit.
Within in a few minutes, the man and the
woman
reportedly
grabbed Hercules and
started to assault him.
The man whose name
was given as “Kerwin” reportedly took out a knife
and stabbed the man in
the back twice, but as the
brawl continued, he bit
Hercules about his body.

Not satisfied

He then turned his attention on the man’s bot-

tom lip. A cousin of the
injured man stated that
when she heard the commotion, she ran out of
bed only to see Hercules
covered in blood and the
bottom half of his lip
missing.
The woman said she
tried to part the fight but
she was also assaulted by
the man and his lover.
The cousin said she bolted to the East Ruimveldt
Police Station to make a
report, but was confront-

ed by the suspect and
dealt several blows.
After assaulting her,
Kerwin and his lover,
Dianne, left and was not
seen since. The matter
was reported to the police and an investigation has been launched.
Hercules was taken to
the Georgetown Public
Hospital where he was
treated and admitted,
but was subsequently discharged. (Guyana
Times)

Europe warns of more Chikungunya cases in the Caribbean

T

he European Centre for
Disease
Prevention
and
Control (ECDC) has reported further increase in the number of confirmed and probable cases of the chikungunya virus on the
French side of St Martin and other
Caribbean islands.
In an epidemiological update on
“autochthonous cases of chikungunya fever in the Caribbean region”
on Saturday, the ECDC said that,
as of last Thursday, there were
201 “probable or confirmed cases”
in French St Martin and two confirmed cases on the Dutch side of
the island.
ECDC also said there were 48
“probable or confirmed cases” in

Martinique; 25 “probable or confirmed cases” in St Barthélemy; 10
“probable or confirmed cases, including one imported case from St
Martin in Guadeloupe”; and one
“confirmed case imported from
Martinique in French Guiana”.
An outbreak of chikungunya in
the Caribbean was reported from
the French section of St Martin on
December 5. According to the ECDC,
it was the first time that autochthonous transmission of the virus has
been documented in the Americas.
An ECDC risk assessment of the
outbreak published on December 12
concluded that the risk of the disease spreading to other islands in
the region was “high”. (CMC)

he Region Six administration said
it is in a better position to respond to flooding in the farming community of Black Bush
Polder (BBP) with the
recent acquisition of 12
excavators, two of which
will be dispatched to the
area.
Speaking at a news
conference held at his office last Friday, Region
Six Chairman David
Armogan said the BBP
has over the past decade
been one of the problematic areas as it relates to
flooding.

Poor drainage

He noted that the
problem is as a result of
poor drainage. Armogan
said a twofold approach
will be implemented.

One will be to have miniexcavators employed in
the BBP to clear community drains and the other
is to place pumps at all
of the sluices that takes
water from the polder.
The chairman noted
that during 2013, residential communities in
the region benefited from
six mini-excavators donated by central government.
The equipment was
sent to Neighbourhood
Democratic
Council
(NDC) to carry out work
to the community drainage systems and prevent
flooding in those areas
during the rainy season.
“Since that, at the
end of the year, we also
got an additional fleet of
six more mini-excavators

and others repaired.
In order to assist
BBP farmers, sluices at
Eversham and Number
43 Village have also been
rehabilitated during the
past year while Rose
Hall residents have not
suffered from floods since
a new drainage pump
was installed there during the last quarter of
the year.

Road network

Region Six Chairman David Armogan and other
officials at last Friday’s press conference

so that adds up to 12. We
are sending two to Black
Bush Polder,” he said.
The two excavators,
Armogan believes, will
save cash crop farmers.
“Once the rain falls
and the water accumulates on the ground for
more than three days,
they are wiped out and
this is an unacceptable
situation and we are hoping that with these small
drains that we are going
to be digging in the Black
Bush Polder area will assist these cash crop farmers.”

Big problem

Responding to questions about the frequent
siltation of outfall channels in the East Berbice
region, the chairman noted that it is a big problem
for the administration to
handle since many of the
region’s sluices are not
close to the sea.
“For
example, the Number 43
Village, Eversham and
Lesbeholden sluices will
be silted within a matter
of days if you don’t have
water flushing the system… they say we wait

until the rains come before we clear the outfall
channel, but we have to
wait until the rains because if we dig it, we
need the rain water to
flush it.”
According
to
Armogan, the administration is currently moving to install pumps at
all sluices to be able to
effectively reduce excess
water from both farming
and residential communities.
Meanwhile,
during
last year, several new
sluices were constructed

“Over 100 roads were
completed in our capital
programme and as well
as under a programme
carried out by the
Ministry of Public Works,
and hopefully this will
benefit the communities
and the residents there.
One of the things that we
have done is that we did
not isolate communities,
we did roads in almost
every community in our
region.”
Armogan told reporters that in each community, between two and
three roads were either
rehabilitated or upgraded. This, he said, has led
to an improved road network in the region.

enowned
marine
scientist
Dr Karl Aiken
has advised Jamaica’s
Ministry of Agriculture
and Fisheries that he
will be pressing for a
one-month extension of
the three-month closed
season for lobster which
runs from April 1 to
June 30 each year.
"There is a lot of
pressure on the lobster
resources of the counRenowned marine
scientist Dr Karl Aiken.

try, especially the stock
that we used to have on
Pedro Banks which is
now much smaller. It's
not about to disappear
overnight, but it needs
some help," he told
Jamaican media last
week.
The notice given by
Aiken comes against the
background of a recent
proposal made by acting chief executive officer in the fisheries ministry, Andre Kong, for
an extension of the 21day grace period, which
would allow persons
selling lobsters more
time to dispose of their
stock after the season
closes.
Under the law, no
person shall---(a) catch
and bring ashore or destroy any berried lobster; (b) catch and bring
ashore, or destroy, any

A fisherman shows off a female lobster with a
tar spot, which indicates that it has mated and
will soon lay eggs. (Jamaica Observer photos)

But Aiken, a senior lecturer in the
Department
of
Life
Sciences, UWI Mona
wants the minimum carapace length increased
to nine centimeters,
which he believes could
make a big difference for
the future of Jamaica's
lobster industry.
Approving this increase in the minimum
size could protect between 55 and 60 per
cent of the spawning
stock, compared to the
30-40 per cent it is estimated that the current
size shelters.
"The industry will
die in a few years if we
keep this small present
size," Aiken warned.
A recently conclud-

ed extensive five-anda-half month study of
the industrial offshore
Pedro Banks lobster
fishery done on behalf of
the Fisheries Advisory
Board is now in the
hands of Kong.
Though he was not
at liberty to share details, Dr Aiken offered
some insight into his
findings.
"While we've been
concentrating on conch,
the lobster resource has
been languishing, and
is taking a bit of a battering. It's not extinct,
but it is not in as good
shape as we thought. It
needs some help, and
we're hoping that Mr
Kong, with the meagre
resources he has, will
be able to help us with
the
implementation
of the size increase as
well as extension of the
close season." (Jamaica
Gleaner)

News
week ending January 16, 2014

Trinidad-born Guney
Cedeno to serenade for
TCCF’s event in Toronto

T

he
Caribbean
C h i l d r e n
Foundation’s
(TCCF) first fund-raiser for the year will be
staged on Saturday
February
8th
at
Empire Banquet Hall,
246 Brockport Drive
(Hwy 27 & Bellfield).
The
event,
titled
“Be
My
Valentine:
Roses, Chocolates &
Diamonds,” will feature
the talented Guney
Cedeno, originally from
Trinidad and Tobago.
Cedeno
is
well
known for embracing
the calypso and parang
art forms, which are
considered as reflections of his Trinidadian
and Spanish roots.
He
entered
the
Canadian
calypso
scene in 1994, reaching the semi-finals in
each of the subsequent
years.
His first recording was released in
1995 and was in the
Caribbean top 20 chart.
Guney’s gift of voice,
crowd-pleasing interpretation of lyrics and

artistry of rendition
has long been applauded by calypso enthusiasts and seasoned professionals alike both
internationally and at
home in Canada.
Meanwhile,
Lall’s
Jewellery, known for
its unique East Indian
craftwork
with
onsite designers will provide the signature raffle prize of a diamond
ring valued at nine
hundred dollars for the
Valentine’s affair while
Watt A Basket, a company that began life
as a hobby and gifts
for friends and family, will sponsor TCCF’s
Valentine
chocolate
baskets specially prepared for the event.
Watt A Basket offers
a range of customized
gift packages for any
special occasion.
The Ontario Science
Centre and Magma
International will contribute items for the
door prize and silent
auction.
TCCF also enjoys
the continued support

of a number of corporate entities, including
the Trinidadian carrier Caribbean Airlines,
which annually provides four return airline tickets for in-need
Mothers and Children,
on
compassionate
grounds.
TCCF is a registered Canadian charity, and raises funds
primarily through four
annual events. It also
enjoys strong support
from the community at
large.
It is affiliated with
the Toronto Hospital
for Sick Kids and other
Global hospitals, and
has since 2000, raised
over a million dollars, providing a second chance at life for
58 critically ill children
from the Caribbean
who were unable to access the care they needed at home.
For tickets and information to “Be My
Valentine
Roses,
Chocolate & Diamonds”
affair, please contact
905-840-5369.

13

| www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

14

News

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | week ending January 16, 2014

Ja$80 million upgrade for Eastern Westmoreland water supply

T

he Jamaican government recently signed two contracts totaling Ja$80
million for the upgrading of the potable water
distribution system in
Eastern Westmoreland.
One contract, valuing Ja$42 million, was
signed to cover work in
the Leamington/Cedar
Valley area, while the
other, valued at approximately Ja$38 million,
will cover the Bethel
Town/ Argyle Mountain
area. More than 13,000
residents are expected
to benefit from the improved water supply.
Signatories
to
the
contracts
were
Minister
of
Water,
Land, Environment and
Climate Change Robert
Pickersgill;
Chairman
of the National Water
Commission (NWC), Dr.
Leary Myers; Chairman,
Rural Water Supply Ltd.,
John P White; Member
of
Parliament
for
Eastern Westmoreland

Jamaica’s Water Minister Robert Pickersgill (second right); is joined by (from left),
Mayor of Savanna-la-mar, Bertel Moore; Chairman of the NWC, Dr. Leary Myers;
Councillor for the Leamington Division, Cebert McFarlane; Member of Parliament for
Eastern Westmoreland Luther Buchanan; and Chairman, Rural Water Supply Limited,
John P White; as they break ground to mark the start of work for the rehabilitation
of the water distribution system in Cedar Valley, Westmoreland. (JIS photo)

Luther Buchanan, and
representatives from the
Contractors, D R Foote
Construction Company
Ltd;
and
Bacchus
Engineering Company

Ltd.
Addressing the contract signing ceremony in Cedar Valley, last
week, Pickersgill stated that there will be re-

newed commitment towards expanding and
improving the potable
water supply network
across the island this
year.

He informed that his
ministry remains unswerving in its efforts
to achieve universal coverage for potable water
by the year 2030, noting
that access to safe water
supply has been one of
the top priorities in developing countries over
the last three to four decades.
The minister said
that establishing a harmonized and comprehensive mechanism for
long-term water security is critical for Jamaica,
pointing out that as a
nation, “we ought to
be mindful of climate
change.”
He further added
that the government is
now strengthening the
policy which requires
that persons, who are
undertaking
development, provide their own
domestic water where
there is no connection
to the central water system.
“This policy is now

being
strengthened
to make it mandatory for all developments
to make allowances for
rainwater
harvesting,
either above or below
ground, whether they
are connected to the
central water system or
not,” he emphasised.
“I firmly believe that
this is the route we must
take in order to ensure
our water security, particularly in the face
of climate change impacts,” he stated.
The minister also
outlined the costs incurred by the NWC in
collecting, storing, treating and distributing
water, and encouraged
those receiving the commodity to be reasonable
and pay their bills.
The scope of work on
both projects include the
rehabilitation of existing
water distribution network in the area and the
installation of some 4.5
kilometres of new pipelines. (JIS)

Guyanese stakeholders outline need for CJIA upgrade

A

dverse
weather
conditions continue to pose tremendous discomfort for travellers in Guyana and it
is a startling reminder of
why the airport expansion project, especially a
new terminal building, is
vital.
Public Works and
Transport
Minister
Robeson Benn made this
disclosure during a recent stakeholders meeting at the Cheddi Jagan
International
Airport
(CJIA).
“Passengers
on
Caribbean
Airlines
Limited (CAL) 0605,
TravelSpan and Surinam
Airways were wet and
uncomfortable, and another CAL aircraft had to
return to Trinidad since
it could not land,” he told
the group that comprised
of airline officials, cargo

operators, customs and
immigration officers.
A longer runway
would have allowed for
larger planes to land,
likewise the passenger
boarding bridges would
have alleviated such discomfort experienced by

the wet passengers, the
minister pointed out.

Funding

However, the future
of the project is in free
fall because of the opposition’s refusal to approve
funding. In 2011, the
government of Guyana

inked a US$150 million contract with China
Harbour
Engineering
Company (CHEC) for the
transformational
venture.
In light of this, an appeal was made to stakeholders to “have their
voices be heard on why
the airport expansion is
important for them”.
And if the project does
not go forward, there will
be heavy liabilities, said
CJIA Board Chairman
Ramesh Dookhoo. The
US$20.7 million was approved by Parliament in
2012 as mobilisation advance.
“…discontinuing the
project will not only affect passengers and the
economy, but also the
taxpayers as the government of Guyana will
have to pay compensation to the contractor for
reneging on the agreement,” he pointed out.
In addition, head of
customs at the facility
Stanley Phillips, pointed to the long wait passengers experience in the

baggage area.
However,
it
was
pointed out that due to
the small, confined area
and the burgeoning passenger arrival–it is virtually impossible to load
luggage in a timely fashion.
According to Dookhoo,
the long waiting period
of collecting luggage has
been a thorny issue–one
that he has experienced
himself firsthand.
“I have received a
copious amount of complaints of persons having to wait 30 minutes or
more to collect luggage,
their second piece. It is
unacceptable. Our passengers should not have
to endure that,” he added.

New airlines

Meanwhile,
CJIA
Chief Executive Officer
Ramesh Ghir told stakeholders that the airport
is currently in talks with
a number of new airlines.
In fact, he is optimistic that during the first
quarter of 2014–a new
airline will announce

its intention to ply the
Guyana route.
Over the past three
months, CONVIASA, Fly
Jamaica and TravelSpan
commenced operations in
Guyana, and according to
Dookhoo, travellers have
more choice and destination to choose from.
“I have recognised
a shift of the interest of
people from traditional
North American route
and the board is very excited about this,” he added.
TravelSpan officials
were also encouraged
to exploit not only the
Christmas season, but
other scheduled flights
as well.
Another burning issue for some airlines executives was the cost of
fuel. However, Dookhoo
assured them the government of Guyana will
soon set up a state owned
fuel farm that would reduce fuel cost significantly–making it more competitive and attractive to
airlines. (Excerpted from
Guyana Times)

News
week ending January 16, 2014

| www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

More firepower for TT’s cops
T

he Trinidad and
Tobago government
has approved an order of 2,500 9mm pistols
to deal with the country’s
runaway crime.
According to an article
in the Trinidad Guardian
published Sunday, after several high-powered
meetings, TT’s Minister
of National Security Gary
Griffith got approval to order the guns to upgrade
the current police stock.
The order, the article
claimed, has already been
placed.
Griffith, at the meetings, steered clear of indicting former national security ministers, but did
say the police force was

An order has been placed for guns to upgrade TT’s
current police stock. (TT Guardian file photo)

ill-equipped to deal with
the crime surge, and that
the criminal element may
be better armed than officers. To offset that inequality, Griffith said the
guns were “an urgent necessity.”

In
an
interview,
Griffith confirmed the order of 2,500 guns for the
police force. On whether his predecessors failed
to properly equip the police service, Griffith only
said: “I am not getting into

what they did or did not
do. That is in the past as
far as I am concerned. But
yes, we have approved the
order for the 2,500 guns.”
He said that comes with
special training and the
establishment of an in-

15

- gov’t orders 2,500
9mm pistols

door shooting range for officers to practice.
This weapon upgrade
for the Police Service
comes just days after
Prime Minister Kamla
Persad-Bissessar
announced an “all hands on
deck” approach to dealing
with the escalating murder rate. After a meeting
with the National Security
Council last week, PersadBissessar announced that
no officer would be allowed
on leave and she recalled
those who were on leave.
The additional weaponry,
the article reported, forms
part of a holistic plan to
fight crime in TT.
At the meetings, several experts and govern-

ment ministers discussed
different ways to address
the crime problem, with
one such suggestion being a second State of
Emergency. Griffith, in
subsequent media interviews, said he did not rule
out the possibility of another State of Emergency
to curb the spiralling
crime rate.
The
TT
government called a State
of Emergency back in
August 2011 after a particularly bloody weekend
left six dead. Now with
over 24 murders since the
start of the year, Griffith
admitted to weighing his
options to help combat the
figures. (TT Guardian)

Jamaica’s smoking ban burning into gov't coffers

T

he Jamaican government has acknowledged that
the smoking ban introduced last July by the
minister of health is having a significant negative
impact on its revenue
projections for the current fiscal year.
In its Fiscal Policy
Paper 2013/14 Interim
Report tabled in the
House of Representatives
late December, Minister
of Finance and Planning
Dr Peter Phillips pointed
to a significant decline in
taxes from tobacco sales
as one of the primary
reasons for the shortfall in tax revenues up to
then.
"A significant decline
in receipts from tobacco,
as a result of the smoking ban in public spaces,
effective July 15, 2013,

also contributed to the
reduction in SCT (Special
Consumption
Tax),"
Phillips noted in the report, which was to be
studied by Parliament's
Public
Administration
and
Appropriations
Committee (PAAC) on
Wednesday.
The minister has
since confirmed the report in interviews with
the media, but has maintained that no new taxes will be introduced to
cover a widening gap in
revenue projections expected to continue into
2014/15.
Phillips is also insisting that while the revenues are being impacted
by the ban, the revenue
targets for 2013/14 will
not be changed.
He first made the
statement
while
re-

sponding to questions
from former Opposition
spokesman on Finance
Audley Shaw, who expressed concern in the
House about the revenue loss implications for
both the industry and
the government from a
reduction in cigarette
consumption, up to next
March when the current
financial year ends.
"We will continue
to monitor the situation, but I want to make
it absolutely clear that
the revenue numbers
that the government announced will remain, and
that there will be no slippage in relation to overall targets for revenue,"
Phillips responded.
Shaw insisted then
that the government
was "operating in the
dark" because although

the ban was imposed on
cigarette
consumption
and not cigarette sales,
it should have been obvious that sales would
have been affected.
"The issue, therefore, will have to be how
will that be replaced, going forward," Shaw com-

mented.
Dr Phillips responded that, "all things being equal", there would
be a reduction in consumption, but there was
no indication of the pace
at which the reduction
would occur.
One of the areas

which are being seriously
affected by the reduction
is the National Health
Fund (NHF). Cigarette
producer Carreras says
that the bulk of the approximately Ja$11 billion in taxes on cigarettes finances up to 75
per cent of the NHF's activities. However, communications director at
the Ministry of Health,
Neville Graham, is insisting that only 25 per
cent of the NHF's budget is actually financed
by cigarette tax revenue.
Graham also conceded that the smoking ban
was affecting receipts
from cigarette sales, but
explained that when
it was first raised by
Carreras last year there
was no evidence to support the claim.(Jamaica
Observer)

Billion-dollar mall upgrade in Chaguanas starts soon

G

eorge Aboud, the
man behind the
TT$1.1 billion upgrade of the Centre City
Mall in Chaguanas, expects construction of the
mega project to begin soon.
Aboud, of George Aboud
& Sons Ltd (GASL,) confirmed that he is the owner
of Centre City Mall, which
is earmarked for a hefty upgrade.
“There is nothing more
to add. The project will start
soon,” he said.
Last
Wednesday,
Anthony Fifi, a land developer and consultant with
GASL, unveiled the billion-dollar project during
a Planning Ministry consultation on an implementation strategy for the 4Cs
Growth Pole, at the Couva/
Point Lisas Chamber of
Commerce conference hall
in Camden, Couva.
Aboud
said
last
Thursday the mall was established 25 years ago.
Couva/Point
Lisas
Chamber of Commerce

their trade.
Boodan, who met with
Local Government Minister
Marlene Coudray to discuss the project and its impact on the borough, said he

An artist’s impression of what the transformed
Centre City Mall in Chaguanas will look like after it
undergoes a TT$900 million rehabilitation plan.

president Lily Heerai welcomed the project which will
provide job opportunities for
residents in the area during
construction and upon completion. “The mega mall will
really enhance Chaguanas
in terms of economic development,” said Heerai,
who admitted that she had
some concerns about implementation of the project.
“They will need to address
the traffic situation. Even
though they have the new
traffic plan I do not know if
it will continue. Chaguanas
continues to have traffic all
the time,” she said.

Heerai also had concerns about the actual construction phase of the project and its impact on the
traffic situation. “They need
to address some of the traffic problems there before
construction starts. To some
extent the construction will
cause some havoc. There
will be trucks going in and
out and that will be a hindrance to traffic as well,”
she said.
Chaguanas
Mayor
Gopaul Boodan met with
Chaguanas over the weekend to discuss the project and its implications for

had scheduled the meeting
to give vendors a chance to
share their views and concerns about the overall development of Chaguanas.
Currently vendors oc-

cupy the old Chaguanas
health centre building and
with the expansion and upgrade of Centre City Mallm,
they will be affected. (TT
Guardian)

16

News

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | week ending January 16, 2014

Some 100 refugees seek TT asylum

A

round 100 persons are currently seeking asylum
in Trinidad and Tobago.
This
was
revealed
by the Living Water
Community, the organisation which is assisting
the refugees in settling
away from their respective homes to a new life
in the Caribbean. The
refugees are mainly from
African countries.
There are hundreds,
perhaps thousands of
people who, when they
arrive on the shores of
Trinidad and Tobago, do
not have the proper documentation to stay in
the country, but for some
reason or the other, are
determined to stay.
Some may be trying to escape strife and
war in their country,
some may have been
displaced, while others
were seeking economic
opportunities to improve

their way of life. But,
when they overstay their
welcome, Immigration
steps in and most times
they are sent to a detention centre, jail, or deported.
They must meet certain requirements to
gain refugee status, thus
citizenship, in TT.
Living
Water
Community assist citizens who were seeking
asylum because their
lives were in danger.
To date there has been
more than 1,200, with
about 100 at present.

Interviews

“There are many people who come to this
country for economic reasons, that does not come
under our mandate.
When people come to us
they are interviewed for
us to do a determination to see if their lives
are really in danger and
need protection,” said

Interviews with those seeking asylum in TT are sent to
the head office for the Caribbean region for UNHCR.

assistant community director of Living Water,
Rosemary Scott.
She said they did initial interviews, and further interviews were sent
up to the Washington

office, the head office
for the Caribbean region for United Nations
High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR).
She said despite the
fact that TT had signed

the convention to recognise and accept refugees,
there was no legislation
in place. This meant that
refugees seeking asylum
had absolutely no rights
in the country, she said.
Scott related that
they
liaised
with
Immigration
allowing
them to at least have
what was called an “order
of
supervision,”
which entitled them protection while they were
in TT and their case was
being determined.
“Once the case is determined that they are
refugees, then by international law they should
be protected in this
country...again because
there is no legislation in
place very often we need
to find a third country
to resettle them,” Scott
said.

Legislation

Scott said refugees
were not entitled to

work, or have bank accounts, a driver’s licence
or any documents.
“If the proper legislation was in place then
they would be entitled
to all rights as any other
citizen of this country,”
Scott said.
Living Water has
been helping people
seeking refugee asylum
for over 20 years, and
has helped over 1,000.
She said people seeking their assistance were
not boat loads of people,
but single families.
Scott said ten years
ago there was a big resurgence coming out of
Africa (Ghana, Nigeria,
Sengal, Ivory Coast), but
now there was a big influx coming from Cuba.
“It’s not coming in
the hundreds or thousands, they are coming
in a family or two,” she
said. (Excerpted from TT
Newsday)

g r i c u l t u r e
Minister
Roger
Clarke has underscored the importance
of the sugar industry to
Jamaica’s economy, particularly in the context of
the administration’s efforts to restructure the
country’s economy.
Speaking at the official opening of the Toll
Gate sports complex in
Clarendon last Thursday,
Clarke noted that the
sector recorded an estimated US$109.7 million
in combined earnings
and savings during the
2012/13 sugar crop year.
The agriculture minister said that the sector continues to be the

largest employer in the
agricultural
industry,
accounting for approximately 18 per cent of current jobs.
“As such, sugar is still
the largest wage earner and foreign exchange
earner in the agricultural sector. The (sector’s)
performance can (however) be improved if we step
up production,” Clarke
argued.
The minister also reminded of the industry’s
“sterling
contribution
to the education, health
and sporting capacity of
our country.”
However Clarke admitted that notwithstanding the sector’s

positive contributions in
many areas, there are
several challenges which
must be faced. He cited
underperformance by a
number of stakeholders
among the reasons “we
are still (producing) below our capabilities.”
“We have the potential to produce over
200,000 tonnes of sugar (per annum). We
could have done close to
160,000 tonnes of sugar
(in the 2012/13 crop year)
if all producers, both estates and cane farmers,
performed excellently in
the last crop. This would
have translated into foreign exchange earnings and savings close

Jamaica’s Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke. (JIS photo)

to US$130 million. We

fully expected cane pro-

duction for the last crop
would have been close
to 1.6 million tones, instead, we ended up with
1.4 million,” said Clarke.
Clarke
contended
that in many instances
the farmers are “rising to
the occasion,” and some
of the estates are doing
much better. He lamented however, that others
are not performing “as
we would have hoped.”
He said that overall,
cane planting expanded from 2,814 hectares
in 2010, to 5,438 hectares during the 2012/13
crop and congratulated
the farmers on "the great
work they are doing.”
(JIS)

Surveillance cameras for Guyana’s markets, municipalities

G

uyana’s
Local
Government
and
Regional Development
Minister Ganga Persaud said
the ministry is moving to install surveillance cameras in
municipalities and large markets.
The cameras, he said will
be under the control of the
neighbourhood
democratic
councils.
Persaud pointed out that
cameras have already been installed at the Bartica Market,
but did not give a timeframe
when same will be done at
other markets and municipalities.
Closed-circuit cameras are
universally used in supermarkets, banks and other places
where business is frequently
conducted.
The cameras would not

Newly-built Mahaica market in Guyana. (Guyana Times file photo)

only serve as a deterrent to
criminal elements, but could
also help the police in their investigations to crack down on
illegal activities conducted in
the markets.
This initiative would be
welcomed by stallholders as
many of them have suffered at
the hands of vandals.
The cameras can also serve
as an early alarm system in
the instance of a fire. Markets
fires are not uncommon and
have caused some businesses
to suffer major losses in the
past.
Since the introduction
of these cameras into the
Bartica Market, officials there
have record a 100 per cent decrease in break and enter. In
the past, the Bartica Market
suffered at least two break-ins
per week. (Guyana Times)

News

17

week ending January 16, 2014 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Guyana’s DPP disposes of 109 cases in 2013
G
uyana’s Director
of
Public
Prosecutions
(DPP) disclosed that 109
cases were completed
during 2013. Of these, 95
cases engaged the court’s
attention while 14 were
nolle prosequi (not to go
ahead) by the DPP.
Seventy-one
of
these cases were from
the Demerara Assizes,
14 from the Berbice
Assizes and 10 from the
Essequibo sessions.
There were a total
of 83 cases for murder,
three for manslaughter,
two rape cases, four cases
of carnal knowledge, two
attempts to commit murder cases and one case for
incest.
The DPP was successful in getting 36 convictions, but there were 45
acquittals along with 10

hung jury, one quashed
committal, two aborted trials and one accused committed to the
National
Psychiatric
Hospital for treatment.
In another case, the
accused was found to be
fit to plea and was remanded back to prison to
await trial. One matter
is continuing during the
January 2014 Assizes.
The 14 matters nolle prosequi by the DPP
was as a result of different reasons. One matter
was nolle prosequi because the accused died
while awaiting trial and
another one because the
witnesses could not be
found.
The other 12 cases
were nolle prosequi because the virtual complainants no longer wanted to proceed with the

Guyana's acting Chief
Justice Ian Chang

matters. In a separate
matter, the DPP nolle
prosequi the case against
one of the murder accused since there was no
evidence against him.

DPP’s appearance

Meanwhile,

during

2013, the DPP appeared
in 15 matters at the
Court of Appeal; one was
for the appeal against a
guilty verdict in a murder case.
This
appeal
was
granted, resulting in the
offence being reduced to
manslaughter and the
accused sentenced to 10
years imprisonment.
In a second matter for
an application for bail,
the offence of attempted
murder, the application
was refused. There were
three matters of appeal
for the offence of causing
death by dangerous driving.
In one matter, the appeal was granted, but the
court found that there
was sufficient evidence
to establish the offence of
death by dangerous driving.

In the second appeal,
the conviction for causing death by dangerous
driving was confirmed
and the accused was sentenced to three years imprisonment. The appellant in the third case
against the conviction for
causing death by dangerous driving withdrew his
application.
In addition, there
were two appeals by the
state; one was to amend
the appeal from a verdict
of acquittal from a High
Court murder trial and
this was granted.
The other matter was
an appeal against an order made by a single
judge in chambers in the
Court of Appeal to prevent a magistrate from
carrying out the directions of the DPP for a
preliminary inquiry to be

reopened and it was allowed.

Extension of time

The other eight matters were in relation to
summary trials for indictable offences of which
five were applications for
extension of time because
the applicants failed to
file the notice of appeal
within the statutory period.
In the sixth matter,
an application was granted for the appellant to
lodge security. Another
application was granted
for the petitioner to lodge
his passport within 48
hours of his return to the
country. One application
to appeal a matter for
the offence of possession
of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking was
refused. (Excerpted from
Guyana Times)

Some Jamaicans still want TT boycott
B
arely a month after talks between
TT’s
Foreign
Affairs Minister Winston
Dookeran
and
his
Jamaican counterpart,
Arnold J Nicholson, to
resolve trade and immigration issues between
the two countries, a new
survey shows that some
Jamaicans are still in favour of a boycott of goods
from TT, and an overwhelming majority are
still up in arms over the
decision to refuse entry
to 13 Jamaicans, including a child, late last year.
The calls for boycott
came after the Jamaicans
were turned back at
Piarco
International
Airport on November
20, 2013. The Jamaicans
claimed TT immigration officers told them
they were being turned
back due to the recent

Jamaica’s Foreign
Affairs Minister
Arnold J Nicholson

murder of a Trinidadian
whose body was discovered in St Catherine.
They also claimed that
the rejection of entry was unjust because
both countries are signatories to the Revised
Treaty of Chaguaramas,
which grants freedom of
movement to Caribbean
Community citizens.
According to a report

in Jamaica’s Gleaner
newspaper,
a
survey commissioned by
the Jamaica National
Building Society and
done by Johnson Survey
Research showed less
than four in every 10
Jamaicans (38 per cent)
support the boycott call,
while 46 per cent said no
to the boycott while 16
per cent were unmoved
either way.
Jamaican
school
teacher Kesreen Green
Dillon, who initiated the
boycott using the social
media, said she was disappointed at the findings
of the survey.
“So many things have
been going on and so
many Jamaicans targeted and I think a boycott
would give us a chance
to buy Jamaican, which
would help us grow,” she
said.

Petrotrin pays out fishermen affected by oil spills

W

hile La Brea fisherfolk last
Friday expressed satisfaction
at the compensation offered
by Petrotrin for lost earnings due to the
massive oil spill along Trinidad’s south
western peninsula and which affected
their ability to ply their trade, La Brea
Fishing Association president, Alvin
La Borde, has accused the company’s
management of disrespecting them by
not holding a meeting to discuss other
matters, relating to the village.
La Borde, at one point, even refused
to shake the hand of Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali during a tour of
Coffee beach by Petrotrin officials last
Friday. “I will never shake your hand,”
he told Hassanali before informning
him of the reason for his displeasure.
“You all want to be shown respect, you have to show respect.
Correspondence was sent about one
week ago for a meeting, and no response,” La Borde said, adding they
were also concerned that the company was not compensating the residents
who live along the affected shoreline.
“What about the residents who live
on the shore line, they are affected

just as the boat owners. They are accustomed to throwing their little line,
and they refuse to deal with them,” he
said. However, Hassanali disputed La
Borde’s claims saying he had not only
received the correspondence, but had
replied to the letters.
“I did receive the correspondence,
and I did reply, but I agree with you
that we have an issue here, a tragedy, but we have been working with
you and I believe we are making some
progress, the beach looks far better,”
Hassanali said.
Hassanali also noted that the company had reached an understanding
regarding compensation, saying the
company was committed to providing
meals for the duration of the clean-up,
as well as medical services.
The compensation agreement for
the fishermen was TT$28,800 per boat
that was damaged as well as two bales
of rope and cleaning chemicals and the
requisite PPE equipment. La Borde
said this was a reasonable figure, and
the company had also promised to give
them a parcel of land for the construction of a fishing depot. (TT Newsday)

The survey showed
that the vast majority
of Jamaicans—75 per
cent—said they were
aware of the incident
when 13 people were
turned back at Piarco
International
Airport,
and 61 per cent felt the
action was wrong, even
though TT officials repeatedly denied they
were refused entry because they were from
Jamaica. Only 15 per
cent of the respondents
agreed with the decision
to refuse the Jamaicans
entry.
A total of 1,008 residents of Jamaica aged
18 and older were inter-

viewed for the survey,
which was conducted between December 7 and
15. It was done just days
after talks in Kingston
between Dookeran and
Nicholson which culminated with an agreement
on a path to improve free
trade and free movement
between the two countries.
Meanwhile, a recent incident involving TT immigration and
Jamaican radio personality and comedian Christopher ‘Johnny’
Daley is threatening to
revive the dispute. Daley
said he was mistreated
by airport officials and

vented his anger at the
shabby treatment on the
social network website
Facebook last week.
He said he felt like a
criminal even though he
broke no immigration
law and was not in possession of any contraband or banned items.
Daley, in his Facebook
post, said: “I had my
worst travel experience
entering the twin-island
Republic of Trinidad and
Tobago last night and
I’m sorry to say it, but
Jamaicans are targeted
and profiled because it
happened to me and my
wife.” (Excerpted from
TT Guardian)

he Georgetown Chamber
of
Commerce
and
Industry (GCCI) has
joined several others in conveying sympathy to the family of
Terrence Holder.
The GCCI in a release said
Holder spent many years as a
private sector leader and advocate, serving on many boards
and committees of several private sector associations in
Guyana. He held many executive level positions at the GCCI,
including that of senior vice
president, and will also be remembered for his intellect, insightfulness and sagacity on
issues that attracted the attention of the chamber and which
affected the country’s social and
economic climate.
During his tenure at the
GCCI, Holder was a staunch
advocate for corporate social responsibility (CSR) being a fun-

damental part of the operations
of the GCCI and its constituent
private sector members, and he
formulated and led many initiatives in this regard for the
chamber.
The GGCI said he also
played the role of mentor to
new and young members of the
GCCI’s executive, offering valuable counsel and advice as they
transitioned into the arena of
private sector advocacy.
GCCI President Clinton
Urling recalled being a beneficiary of Holder’s wisdom and
understanding on many occasions when he became a member of the chamber’s executive
council.

Deep sorrow

Meanwhile, the Guyana
Manufacturing and Services
Association
(GMSA)
said
though not sudden, Holder’s
death has cast a pall over its

the board since the mid 1990s
as the representative of the
Guyana Telephone & Telegraph
Company. Terry served as vice
president responsible for public communications for more
than six years before he demitted office due to his ill health,”
the GMSA said, describing him
as an outstanding, dependable
and always articulate member.
A Partnership for National
Unity (APNU) also expressed
deep sorrow at the passing of
Holder.

Career

Terrence ‘Terry’ Holder, a
veteran broadcaster and former
general manager of the Guyana
Telephone and Telegraph
Company (GT&T), passed away
last Wednesday, after battling a
chronic illness for several years

board of directors and membership.
“He had become a fixture on

Jamaica’s Children’s Registry to
open Westmoreland parish office

J

amaica’s
Office
of the Children's
Registry (OCR) will
be opening a parish office in Westmoreland on
January 20 as the agency continues to extend its
reach across the island.
The establishment of
the Westmoreland parish
office, which will be based
in Savanna-la-Mar, will
be one of the highlights
of the agency's activities
to mark its seventh anniversary this month, under
the theme: 'Be the change:
Speak out, protect our
children'.
The anniversary celebrations also include a
church service on January
19 at the Bethel United
Church of Jesus Christ,
31 South Camp Road,
Kingston;
sensitisation
sessions in residential
child-care facilities; the
launch of new mission and
vision statements and a
child-friendly website; issuing of a newsletter; and
the staging of 'pon de corner' reasoning sessions.
Registrar at the OCR,

Registrar at the OCR
Greig Smith. (Jamaica
Observer photo)

Greig Smith, who announced the activities
in his New Year's message, said the agency
will also be making every effort to continue its
school tours and expand
its Child Ambassadors
Programmes. These initiatives, launched in 2012,
are aimed at getting children involved in the effort
to reduce child abuse.
Smith, in the meantime, has commended citizens who assist the OCR
by reporting incidents of
abuse. "To date, we have
collected over 40,000 re-

ports of child abuse. Of
this number, more than
8,000 such reports were
received during 2013," he
stated.
In addition, he said the
agency has received 66 reports of missing children
since the Ananda Alert
system was transferred
to the OCR on March 1,
2013. The Ananda Alert
seeks to ensure the safe
and speedy recovery of
missing children.
The 66 reports, Smith
said, "formed part of a total of 2,034 reports of missing children, which were
received by the Missing
Persons
Call
Centre
(Jamaica
Constabulary
Force) between January
and November 2013. Of
this amount, 1,621 were
recovered."
The OCR, which began operations in January
2007, is responsible for receiving, recording and assessing reports of child
abuse
and
referring
agencies for investigation and action. (Jamaica
Observer)

Holder, also a veteran
broadcaster and former General
Manager of the Guyana
Telephone
and
Telegraph
Company (GT&T) passed away
last Wednesday after battling a
chronic illness for several years.
He was aged 73.
He had retired from the
company after he took ill. He

started his broadcasting career at the now defunct Guyana
Broadcasting
Corporation
(GBC) rising to the level of general manager. During that period, he also served as secretary general of the Caribbean
Broadcasting Union (CBU).
Well-respected for his current affairs productions such
as documentaries, he moved
on to become the GBC General
Manager in the 1990s. After
the change of government in
1992, he served on the board
of directors of GBC’s successor,
the National Communications
Network (NCN).
He had also worked at
the Information Ministry under the previous administration and served the Guyana
Cricket Board and the Guyana
Manufacturing and Services
Association (GMSA). (Guyana
Times)

Plan for new mas route to
end congestion in TT

Bandleaders are reluctant to consider such a major change, saying consultations
should have been held with them much earlier. (TT Guardian file photo)

A

new mas route under consideration
by Trinidad and
Tobago’s NCC (National
Carnival Commission)
could reduce congestion for the Parade of
the Bands on Carnival
Monday and Tuesday by
25 per cent.
Bandleaders,
however, said they were reluctant to consider such
a major change and consultations should have
been held with them
much earlier. They, however, said they were willing to address the issue
after Carnival 2014.
Bandleaders met to
discuss proposed changes to the Carnival route
at the Grand Stand,
Queen's Park Savannah,
Port-of-Spain, last week.
The meeting was convened by the National
Carnival
Bands
Association (NCBA) and
facilitated by the NCC.
The NCC had commissioned
Transport
Systems Engineer Dr
Rae Furlonge and C&H
Associates (CHA) to
identify solutions to help
address the "perennial

problem" of congestion
on the road on Carnival
days.
Critical data gathered by the NCBA over
several years was provided to CHA under a
confidentiality
agreement to help the firm devise solutions.
CHA Director Derek
Hamilton suggested extending the parade route
to contain the volume of
bands. He also recommended mas bands proceed clockwise to and
from the Savannah to
optimise efficiency. He
said that they could not
provide all the answers
in one year, saying progress would be ongoing.
Furlonge said there
would be a 25 percent
reduction in parade congestion if the new plan
was implemented. He
said the route issue represented a major challenge and that two types
of software had been
used to model the system, applying a scientific approach to a traditional system. Furlonge
said that if all Carnival
bands were lined up end

to end, they could not all
fit on the existing route.
He used an animated simulation to show
the movement of 55
large, medium and small
bands moving along
the proposed new, extended route and crossing the Savannah stage
from the western end.
Furlonge said the new
system would provide
more room in the leadup to the stage, easing blockages. Several
bandleaders objected to
the proposed directional
change telling Hamilton
this would require them
to go against the wind,
posing a hazard to costumes and masqueraders, particularly children.
Acting
Assistant
Commissioner
Steven
Ramsubag said they
had examined the proposed route and found
that they could not provide the manpower to
police an extended area.
He said they wished to
support but they had
to provide security for
the entire country. (TT
Guardian)

news

19

week ending January 16, 2014 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Provisions made for laid off Some 180 foreign
Barbadian drainage workers nurses for Trinidad’s

T

he
Barbadian
workers
who
were let go from
the Drainage Division’s
National Environmental
E n h a n c e m e n t
Programme
(NEEP)
have
received
their
“green papers” to qualify for unemployment
benefits, and the assurance is being given by
Prime Minister Freundel
Stuart that they will also
get separation packages.
According to Stuart,
those packages are in the
process of being quantified by the ministry, and
that matter is expected
to go before Parliament
once it resumes from the
annual Christmas recess.
“The
computations
are being done; the

Esther Byer Suckoo and
Minister of Social Care,
Steven Blackett, participated in a meeting
with the affected workers at the Lloyd Erskine
Sandiford Centre, which
lasted for three hours.
Prime Minister Stuart
said that the meeting
was necessary to give
those affected a better
understanding of the situation and their rights.
The prime minister
said that though he was
cognisant of the “tight
time schedule” facing
the Ministry of the Civil
Service and the Ministry
of the Environment at
the end of last month
when the workers were
let go, he was “not terribly amused” at the way
the matter of the lay-offs

that we were having
some serious drainage
and other bush problems in the country and
therefore the two concerns were merged and
out of that came the
National Environmental
E n h a n c e m e n t
Programme. We financed
it between August 2008
and December 2013, and
392 workers benefitted
from it. So, one could not
see a programme close
and so many people affected and just not say
anything to them,” he
added.
Stuart said that given that the affected persons will have to rely on
unemployment benefits
for the time being, government intends to also
put in place an “advi-

new South hospital

T

Some of the laid-off workers of the National Environmental Enhancement
Programme (NEEP) receiving their green papers last week from staff of the
Ministry of the Environment and Drainage. (Barbados Advocate photo)

Permanent
Secretary
in the Ministry of the
Environment,
Mr.
Edison Alleyne has explained that. Once we
get a grand total, that
would have to engage the
attention of Parliament
by way of supplementary requests; and once we
pass that hurdle, all of
the workers will get their
entitlement,” he said.
His comments came
as he spoke to the media at Ilaro Court, minutes after he, along with
Minister of Environment
and
Drainage,
Dr.
Denis Lowe; Minister
of Labour, Senator Dr.

was handled and as such,
felt a need to express his
regret to the workers.
“This programme had
its beginnings, of course,
in August 2008 when
the present Minister of
the Environment and
Drainage, Dr. Denis
Lowe, was Minister of
Social Care, and he had
come to the Cabinet to
say that he thought that
we needed to embark on
a welfare-to-work programme.
Now his advocacy
to the Cabinet coincided with a concern of the
then Minister of Public
Works,
John
Boyce,

sory mechanism”, that
will offer interested persons advice on how they
can make effective use
of their severance packages. These workers are
among the first of the 3
000 proposed job cuts
in the public sector that
are to take place between January 15 and
March 1 as part of government’s efforts to save
approximately Bds$143
million in a full financial year, or Bds$35 million over the last quarter
of the current financial
year, which ends March
31, 2014. (Barbados
Advocate)

The San Fernando Teaching Hospital. (Kamla Persad-Bissessar FB photo)

he TT$739 million San Fernando
Teaching Hospital
has been commissioned,
but it will take another few weeks before 180
nurses can be flown
in from Cuba and St
Vincent to work at the
facility. So said Health
Minister Dr Fuad Khan
during the opening of the
hospital.
The
new
hospital, which connects the
San Fernando General
Hospital, via a skywalk bridge, has been
dedicated to maternal,
child-care and paediatric outpatients. Khan
said the additional 216
beds at the new facility would effectively deal
with overcrowding at the
San Fernando General
Hospital, bringing the
overall bed space to 866.
He also said there
were 26 doctors’ on-call
rooms and lecturer rooms
specifically designed for
teaching and interactive
learning. Boasting that
TT will soon begin de-

veloping educational and
medical tourism, Khan
said he intended to bring
retired specialist medical officers from abroad
to train young people.
“We will determine what
specialities are needed
worldwide and we will
use this cadre of specialist doctors to boost medical tourism in TT,” he
added.
He said the Ministry
of Health already had
visited Cuba and identified nurses who were
willing to come to TT
to work. “We intend to
bring 120 nurses from
Cuba and 60 from St
Vincent. We are also
training nurses at El
Dorado Nurses Academy
and we will be training
enough medical nurses
to cater to our needs,” he
added.
Chairman
of
the
Southwest
Regional
Health Authority Dr
Lackram Bodoe also
vowed that overcrowding
would be a thing of the
past now that the new

hospital had been commissioned. He said the
first patients would be
brought in by late next
month or early March.
Meanwhile, Tertiary
Education
Minister
Fazal Karim said a
Masters in Forensics
Degree would begin
at the hospital from
September. “The Faculty
of Medical Sciences,
UWI, St Augustine, will
like to take a proactive
role in strengthening
the criminal justice system and bolstering the
efforts of the government in crime detection
and eradication, through
the launch of a Master’s
Degree
in
Forensic
Science,” Karim said.
The minister said
UWI
would
collaborate with the School
of
Forensic
and
Investigatory Sciences at
the University of Central
Lancashire, UK, with respect to its laboratories
and teaching expertise to
deliver the programme.
(TT Guardian)

Losses force job cuts at FirstCaribbean

C

I
B
C
F ir s t C a r ib b ean
International
Bank said Monday that
it is planning to cut its
workforce of 3,500 by 10
per cent, or about 350
staff, under a restructuring plan aimed at addressing recent losses.
The bank reported annual losses of
US$27.5 million at year
end October 2013.
FirstCaribbean CEO
Rik Parkhill said the
job cuts are meant to
address the "negative
impact of the global recession on profitability which resulted in in-

creased loan losses and
fewer revenue-generating opportunities, and
an increase in our operating costs".
The losses last year
were linked to restructuring
expenses
of
US$37.6 million and an
increase in the collective allowance for loan
losses of US$25 million.
"The restructuring
exercise is designed to
achieve a reduction of
employee costs of 10 per
cent. We started the exercise with 3,500 employees and the first
step was the non-renewal of contracts of those

workers who were on
contract with the bank,
and
where
projects
came to their natural
end," Parkhill said via
email from Barbados.

Voluntary programmes

The bank has also offered voluntary early retirement to eligible employees and voluntary
separation to employees who are not eligible
for early retirement, but
wish to leave.
"The voluntary programmes have received
a reasonable response
and we are currently engaged in robust, organisational redesign, man-

power and transition
planning exercise to ensure our ability to deliver continually improving customer service,"
said Parkhill.
FirstCaribbean
is
also to assess positions
that are now redundant
as a result of "consolidation, automation, process re-engineering and
improvement"
across
the group.
FirstCaribbean has
not specified in which
markets the major cuts
would fall.
FirstCaribbean
Jamaica had Ja$613
million of accumulat-

ed losses at September
2013, according to the
latest
central
bank
data. It is the third largest commercial bank
in this market with assets of Ja$61 billion and
a capital base of Ja$14
billion.
The FirstCaribbean
group, which spans 17
markets,
generated
US$530 million in revenue in 2013 and maintained strong capital
levels with a total capital ratio of 24 per cent.
"Many of the economies in which we operate rely heavily on tourism and foreign direct

investments. The overhang from the economic crisis continues to
impede growth and, by
extension, has negatively affected our results,"
he said.
The banking group
operates a network of
69 branches, 22 banking
centres and seven offices within the English
and
Dutch-speaking
Caribbean. Its assets
were basically flat at
US$11.44 billion, while
its capital base declined
from US$1.65 billion
to US$1.55 billion at
year end October 2013.
(Jamaica Gleaner)

20

feature

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | week ending January 16, 2014

T

he Guyana Hindu
Dharmic Sabha recently celebrated 40
years of existence and as
the month-long celebrations continue; the organisation said special focus
will be placed on training
to preserve Hinduism and
its art forms.
Embarking on another year of dedicated service to the country, the
Sabha will continue to expand the Dharmic family through its praants in Essequibo; Upper,
Central, East and West
Berbice; East and West
Coast Demerara; and
East Bank Demerara.
Its goal is to maintain
and strengthen relationships with all Hindu organisations and other religious bodies as it seeks
to be helpful to all.
The Sabha is committed to serving with distinction and is pleased to
announce that this year

In addition to the
thousands trained since
the Dharmic Kendra
opened its doors in 1991
as the first recognised
Hindu Academy in the
Caribbean by the Indian
government, the Sabha
has spared no efforts to
offer training opportunities around the country
to affiliated mandirs, and
Kendras in Berbice and
Essequibo.

Strong advocate

The Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha celebrates 40 years of service to Guyanese,
particularly the Hindu community. (Guyana Times photo)

it will offer free classes
at its Kendra headquarters, Prashad Nagar,
commencing this month.
The classes include lessons in harmonium, tabla and dholak. These sessions will be conducted by
teachers from India certified by an Indian Music
Academy.
The Sabha will also
launch a comprehensive pandits’ programme
in Hindi, conduct teachings on the Ramayan,
Bhagavad Gita, counselling, public speaking,
mantras and pujas, which
will be taught by local and
overseas instructors.
In addition, there will
be males and females
classical and folk dance
classes. Classes in Hindi
will be taught by Sahadeo
Heyland while Sanskrit
and Gita classes will
be imparted by another
teacher.

Children’s Ramlila

The Sabha will also be
launching the Children’s
Ramlila dramatic presentations in April.
The organisation also
recognise the need to
continue to build on the
rich legacy bequeathed
by Pandit Reepu Daman
Persaud, the founder of
the Sabha, and to maintain the Hindu value system, cultural norms, festivals and art forms, so that
it can be passed on to generations to come.
Some of the outstanding works of the Sabha
over the past 40 years include the Phagwah Mela
and Bazaar, Chowtaal
Samelaan, Holi Utsav,
Deepavali
Motorcade,
Naya
Zamana,
Kala
Utsav (Festival of Art)
and Indian Arrival Day
celebrations.

The Sabha has actively advocated against alcohol abuse, domestic violence and suicide and
supports efforts in bringing awareness in the field
of HIV/AIDS. Youths have
played an integral role
and have been trained as
peer educators in all of
these areas, and recently
as educators in a new parenting programme.
The
Dharmic
Naujawaan (the Sabha’s
youth arm) has over the
years been immersed
in countrywide charity
drives and blood donations and other youth programmes.
Mahila Mandalee, the
women’s arm has been
engaged in a literacy
campaign and annually
presents bursaries to outstanding students across
the country.
The Sabha’s newest programme, “Voices
against Child Abuse,”
which started in 2009, has
today resulted in the construction of “Bal Nivas”,
a home for children who
are victims of abuse, in
Ankerville, Berbice.

Training facility

It will also serve as
a counselling and skills
training facility in the
drive to empower women and work with youth.
The shelter has been primarily financed from
concerts featuring legendary singers Sonu
Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal,
Alka Yagnik and Udit
Narayan. Construction of
the shelter commenced in
February 2013 and is ongoing.
In celebrating 40
years of existence and
the 176th anniversary of
Indian Arrival in Guyana,
the Sabha will be bringing back, by popular demand, the immensely talented Sonu Nigam and
troupe to perform at the
National Stadium on May
4.
The organisation was
launched on January 8,
1974 at the Shri Krishna
Mandir,
Campbelville,
Geogetown when the
Hindu community was
in need of leadership.
(Guyana Times)

feature

21

week ending January 16, 2014 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Self Start Fund creating employment for
thousands of small entrepreneurs in Jamaica

J

The fund disbursed 617 loans valued at over Ja$200
million over the past five years. (JIS file photo)

amaica’s Self Start
Fund (SSF) was established by the
government in 1983 as
an entity that provides
loans to micro and small
entrepreneurs and individuals, who are unable
to access financing from
traditional institutions.
Since then, the fund
has had many successes,
but more notably, in the
past five years, the fund
disbursed 617 loans valued at over Ja$200 million, creating 2,144 jobs.
This year, the fund is
projecting to lend more
than Ja$100 million to
the micro, small and medium enterprise sector
for the 2014/15 period,
leading to the creation of
over 1,000 jobs.
The fund’s General
Manager
Sezvin
Hamilton explained that
the SSF offers loans to
persons involved in agriculture, trading, services
and manufacturing-type
businesses, up to a maximum of Ja$750,000. The
interest rate is 23 per
cent per annum.
“Our loan policy ad-

mits everyone or all persons doing business and
in particular small and
micro businesses…we interview them and provide
them with an application form, which sets out
quite a lot and require
documents that they
have to produce as proof
that they are operating
legitimate businesses,”
Hamilton related.

and medium enterprise
sector, the fund is currently embarking on a
mission to rebrand and
reposition itself, taking
into account the evolving
business
environment
and global trends.
The entity is looking

to strategically place itself in areas of great demand for micro-financing
and is seeking to create innovative business
products for small business owners, who wish to
grow by providing various continued services
for the Logistics Hub initiative.
“The SSF is looking to
engage its clients in training and putting together all that is necessary
with the assistance of entities like the Jamaica
Business Development
Corporation
(JBDC),
Companies Office of
Jamaica and Bureau
of Standards Jamaica,
to ensure that they are
grounded on the right
path and are able to sustain their business and
its longevity,” the general manager informed.

Product offering

On the issue of product offering, he said “we
currently have one main
product, but we realize

that in order to attract
our customers, we should
have differentiated products, so we may create a JUS START Loan,
a Continued Business
Loan and others differentiated by interest rates
and loan size.”
As regards expansion of services across
Jamaica, Hamilton stat-

Repayment terms

The repayment period, he highlighted does
not usually exceed 24
months, and is dependent
on the loan terms.
“We would look in
terms of what the person
is doing and how much
they are borrowing, how
much they can pay based
on their financial projection, cash flow, financial
statements and all relevant documents, so that
we can determine with
the customer, how much
they can manage to pay
and that will guide us
as to how long we should
make the loan,” Hamilton
outlined.
To further strengthen Jamaica’s micro, small

ed that consideration is
being given for the establishment of additional locations, as the fund currently operates from its
Parkington and Yallahs
branches in Kingston and
St. Thomas, respectively.
“We have been looking
for new office locations as
the idea is to get the money out there to the people
where they find it convenient and where we can
monitor them effectively,” he noted.
“The amount of money that SSF turns over
is in the billions over the
30 years, and we have
provided jobs for several thousands of persons
as many of these entities
and individuals, who borrow money from us, do
employ persons,” the general manager proudly reported.
He added, “So we
have achievements in
the amount of money we
have turned over; how
much we have actually lent; how many businesses we have provided funds for; how many
have graduated and gone
into the big leagues, and
can now deal with formal
banks.” (JIS)

‘I’m feeling good’ – Sparrow
T

he
indomitable
spirit that catapulted him to calypso supremacy still
resides in the Mighty
Sparrow (Dr Slinger
Francisco) in his recovery effort from a diabetic coma that put him in
hospital in Queen’s New
York, last September.
In
a
three-way
telephone
conversation with TT media
that included founder of the Sunshine
Awards Gilman Figaro
last Friday night, the
Birdie, now convalescing in a therapy facility
in Brooklyn, and clearly
in a jovial mood, sang,
joked and gave the assurance that he is progressing steadily on the

road to recovery.
“Let my fans in
Trinidad and Tobago
know that the Calypso
King of the World, the
supreme serenader, the
one-and-only
Mighty
Sparrow is feeling good,
and ready to take on all
comers in 2014,” he said
with trademark bravado, before treating TT
reporters to a verse and
chorus of his 1992 classic ‘Man Will Survive’.
He then informed that
he will be appearing
on a programme to be
staged at Melanie’s,
an upscale restaurant/
bar catering to West
Indians,
on
Fulton
Avenue, Brooklyn, this
Saturday.
“I am choosing my

repertoire carefully for
this event, as it will also
be a form of thanksgiving to the Almighty for
granting me an extension of life after all I
have been through the
past months,” he said.
Figaro, who has been
a constant visitor to
the bard at the facility,
said Sparrow has never
seemed depressed since
coming out of the coma.
“He always exhibits a
very cheerful attitude,
and is well loved and
admired by the nursing
staff there,” he said.
Last week, Sparrow
said: “They think I
am strong enough for
air travel and to return home. I plan to
return home very ear-

ly in February and I
will be performing for
Carnival at Tuco Kaiso
House in the Queen’s
Park Savannah, Portof-Spain.”
Sparrow has won
the
Carnival
Road
March
competition
eight times, has been
crowned
Calypso
Monarch eleven times,
and has a discography
of more than 600 songs.
Known for his distinct
musical style, clever
lyricism, ability to provoke thought with his
social commentary, and
make fans laugh with
his humorous double
entendre tales, he is,
without a doubt, the
Calypso King of the
World. (TT Guardian)

Gilman Figaro, left, and Sparrow in his room at the
clinic in Brooklyn, New York, USA. (TT Guardian photo)

22

feature

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | week ending January 16, 2014

W

orld-recognised
kayake Freya
Hoffmeister departed Guyana’s shores
early last Friday morning to continue her circumnavigation of South
America.

keep on going to French
Guiana, Brazil, Uruguay
and then to Buenos
Aires,” she explained.
With the tide in her
favour,
Hoffmeister
made last minute preparations to her kay-

am still in one piece for
the next leg of the journey,” she related.

Thanks

During her short
stint in Georgetown,
Hoffmeister was treat-

Freya Hoffmeister sets off in her kayak early last Friday morning from the
Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard headquarters, Ruimveldt, Georgetown

Only moments before her departure, the
German business owner and athlete expressed
excitement at beginning
this leg of her journey.
“This is the last leg
of my circumnavigation
of South America and I
am going to start over after two months break at
home over Christmas. I
am ready to go and I am
heading to Suriname, it
will take six days to get
to the border and then

ak and with the help of
Guyana’s Coast Guard
officers, readied herself
for the arduous journey
ahead.
As to her expectations, she was optimistic about what lay ahead
and exuded the confidence befitting a career
athlete.
“My muscles are a bit
stiff but it should be alright. I faced a lot of dangerous situations and I
survived, thankfully I

ed to a city tour, compliments of the Guyana
Tourism
Authority
(GTA); she also thanked
everyone including Cara
Lodge for their assistance in providing accommodation and Germany
Honorary Consul to
Guyana Ben Ter Welle,
for his unwavering support.
Circumnavigating
open-water
crossings
and hundreds of miles

of sheer cliffs without
any landing zones for
several days sometimes,
Hoffmeister has mastered the art of dealing
with tropical heat, cyclones and the challenges of obtaining drinking
water and food–not to
mention the physical toll
of averaging upwards of
60 km per day.
Having completed the
second leg of her journey, which she began in
Buenos Aires, Argentina,
two years ago, she arrived in Guyana in
November, where she
was warmly welcomed
by a team of Tourism
Ministry officials, as well
as Welle.
The 49-year-old business owner from Husum,
North Germany is scheduled to set another world
record
Hoffmeister
was
born on May 10, 1964
and is a German business owner and athlete,
who holds several seakayaking endurance records. She started her
journey in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. This was done
in stages, commencing
in Valparaiso, the main
harbour just off Santiago
de Chile eight months
later. She then returned
home for four months.
She resumed her adventure in September 2012,
paddling north past
Venezuela, before ending
the second 8000km leg
in Georgetown, Guyana.
She then took a break to
return in January 2014.

First woman

Freya Hoffmeister is all smiles as she
contemplates the journey ahead

In 2009, she completed a solo circumnavigation of Australia unassisted, becoming the first
woman and only the second person to do so. On
August 30, 2011, she began her attempt to become the first person
to solo circumnavigate
the continent of South
America, intending to
complete the trip before
her 50th birthday.
In 2007, she and
Greg Stamer completed
the fastest-ever sea kayak circumnavigation of
Iceland. They did so in
33 days.
Hoffmeister has made
distinguishing marks in
other sporting careers,
given that she participated in 10 years of competitive gymnastics, five

years of competitive body
building and 10 years
of skydiving with 1500
jumps.
She was the first
German female tandem
pilot with 500 passenger jumps, and part of
many huge record formations. Her most exotic
place to skydive was over
the North Pole, getting
washed out of a Russian
jet plane with 300 km,
with a racing bike passenger strapped to her
chest.
Guyana’s
Tourism
Ministry and the GTA
are proud to have accommodated,
facilitated and hosted this acclaimed athlete as she
prepared for another record-breaking journey.
(Guyana Times)

Dance awards for Jamaica U.S.-based Trinidadian singer

L

'Antoinette Stines—founder/artistic director of L'Acadco dance
group---is planning to announce
the creation of an awards ceremony
aimed at recognising Jamaica's outstanding dancers and companies.
"There are no awards ceremony for
dancers in this country. There are competitions, but no awards ceremony,"
she told Jamaican media recently.
"There are various awards for other professions such as the Actor Boy
Awards for actors, but none for dancers. There's nothing to take care of the
dancers."
According to the artistic director,
the occasion will be called the Jamaica
Daance Awards. No launch date is yet
set for that awards.
"The reason why I chose the word
'Daance' is because we [Jamaicans]
dance from a spiritual base, unlike other forms of dance," she explained.
Stines said the winners of the various categories will not be chosen by
her, but "by a select committee".
"The first major meeting will be
held this month," she said.
The dance categories include traditional, jazz, contemporary and dancehall. Other categories include choreography, costume and creative concept.

The artistic director said the dancehall category winner will be selected by
the judges, as well as by the public.
Last year, the L'Acadco dance company celebrated its 30th anniversary
with a two-week season at the Philip
Sherlock Centre in St Andrew.
The theme was 'Past, Present and
Future' and boasted a diverse line-up
of choreographers, all staging brand
new pieces. (Jamaica Observer)

.S.-based
Trini
singer,
Joey
Ramoutar is taking the chutney soca arena by storm with his hit
single, “One Pong”.
The
19-year-old
brings his youthfulness
and his playful attitude
to the stage.
The song, produced
by Red Land Productions
was mixed and mastered
at A1 Digital Studios.
It was written by
Joey’s father Joseph
Ramoutar who is most
known for his popular song, “Fowl Cock ah
Knock Ah Drum,” sung
by David Ramoutar.
Joey said, “I am excited about singing a chutney soca song as the music is so enticing,” adding
that the rhythm of the
genre of music compels
the audience to move.
He revealed, “The
countless days and nights

spent behind the making
of “One Pong” were exhausting and exciting all
at the same time.”
Operating
out
of
Richmond Hill, New
York, Joey has been performing at both public and private functions
throughout his teenage
years.
He began learning
vocals and playing musical instruments at the
age of eight, performing
cover versions of popular
songs. Today he is happy
to have his own song.
A graduate of the
Learning Tree MultiCultural School (Astoria,
NY) and Richmond Hill
High School (Queens,
NY), Joey said, “I like
to consider music as my
career at this point in
time.” Since his first performance on a stage, he
said, he fell in love with
song and music.

“I felt most comfortable on stage and since
then I have given a lot
of my time and effort to
learning the arts,” he
said.
Joey is convinced
that music and singing
are arts that require concentrated efforts and energy.
The teenage singer
admires American singer-songwriter and record
producer Bruno Mars
(Peter Gene Hernandez).
Commenting on culture and music, Joey
said, “I think our younger generation should embrace our culture – chutney, soca, classical – a
little more.
“Artistes must also
work in harmony with
each other to raise
the standards of various genres of music.”
(Excerpted
from
TT
Newsday)

here is no doubt
that Guyana is bestowed with brilliant masterminds in
the literary arts, and beyond. Not only do these
masterminds exist today, but their existence
in the past has permeated the present literary
culture.
Over time, many
have made, and are still
making tremendous contributions that are recognised constantly.
One of the greatest
contributors to Guyana’s
literary culture is Arthur
James Seymour, whose
100th birth anniversary will be observed on
January 12, 2014. To
honour his work, the
Caribbean Press will
be releasing the republished one through 13
editions of ‘Kyk-Over-Al’.
Born
in
1914,
Seymour
was
well
known as a Guyanese,
poet, essayist, memoirist, and founding editor
of the literary journal
‘Kyk-Over-Al’ which featured the work of many
leading Guyanese and
Caribbean writers.
It was in 1945 that
Seymour founded the
‘Kyk-Over-Al’
journal,
and over a 16 year span,
50 issues of the maga-

J

ust
about
200
years ago, African
Muslim
families
formed a community in
east Trinidad in what,
at that time, was wholly
forest, but it was where
they lived, raised families who in turn provided heirs for these simple
people who lived off the
land.
According to historical information and the
unearthing of the forgotten village in 2010, in
Quare, Valencia, the lost
village was believed to
have been inhabited by
Afro-American Muslim
soldiers.
After six years of
searching for the “lost”
village by senior lecturer at the University
of the West Indies, St
Augustine, Dr Brinsley
Samaroo, it was proven that ex-soldiers who
fought and were resettled in Trinidad after
the
British-American
War of 1812-15 had settled in that area.
The village leader, named Abu Bakr,
was one of 2,400 AfroAmerican soldiers who
resettled in Trinidad.

zine were published.

Anthologies

Additionally,
Seymour also edited and
published ‘An Anthology
of
Guianese
Poetry’
(1954); ‘The Kyk-OverAl Anthology of West
Indian Poetry’ (1952 revised, edited 1958); and
the ‘Miniature Poets
Series’ (1951–53) of pamphlets, which included
work by Martin Carter,
Wilson Harris, Ivan Van
Sertima,
Trinidadian
Harold
Telemaque,
Barbadian
Frank
Collymore, and Jamaican
Philip Sherlock.
Later anthologies include ‘My Lovely Native
Land: An Anthology
of Guyana’ (Longman,
1971), co-edited with
Elma Seymour, ‘New
Writing in the Caribbean
(Georgetown: National
History
and
Arts
Council’, published after
the Caribbean Festival
of Arts in Guyana in
1972) and ‘A Treasury
of Guyanese Poetry’
(1980). Starting in 1976,
Seymour also wrote five
volumes of autobiography.
In 1984, with the help
of poet and novelist Ian
McDonald, Seymour revived ‘Kyk-Over-Al’ in
1984. McDonald assisted

Arthur James Seymour

Seymour with the revival of ‘Kyk-Over-Al after
it had been in absentia for a period of time.
McDonald became the
sole editor of the journal after Seymour died
in 1989.
In 1936, Seymour began writing poems, and
one year later he had
completed his first collection, ‘Verse’; followed by
‘More Poems’ in 1940.
The title poem of

‘Over Guiana’, ‘Clouds’
(1944) was a landmark in the development of Seymour’s poetic style. ‘Suns In My
Blood’ (1945) contained
at least three poems that
have come to be considered classics: ‘Sun Is a
Shapely Fire’, ‘There
Runs a Dream’, and ‘The
Legend of Kaieteur’. The
latter poem was later set
to music by Guyanese
composer Philip Pilgrim.

Seymour’s later major collections include
‘Leaves from the Tree’
(1951), ‘Selected Poems’
(1965), ‘Patterns’ (1970),
‘My Lovely Native Land’
(1971) and ‘Selected
Poems’ (1983). A tribute volume called ‘AJS
at 70’ (1984), edited by
Ian McDonald, contained
a selection of 15 poems under the title ‘The
Essential Seymour’, chosen by Seymour himself.
Seymour died on
December 25, 1989, a
few weeks shy of his 76th
birthday.
In 2000, Seymour’s
‘Collected Poems’, 19371989 was published and
edited by Ian McDonald
and
Jacqueline
de
Weever.
In his early days,
Seymour attended the
Collegiate School and
the Guyanese Academy
before entering Queen’s
College, British Guiana’s
most prestigious boys’
school, on a Government
Junior Scholarship in
1928. Later, he married
Elma Editha Bryce, a
teacher, on July 31, 1937.
They had three daughters and three sons.

Volunteer

After joining the
British Guiana Civil
Service as an unpaid

Search for the village was initiated by
Samaroo after coming
across a petition from
Abu Bakr to the British
government
in
the
Public Records Office in
London, in 1993.
The petition complained that the government had brought them
there, and the bridge
across the Hondo River,
their only access to the
rest of the country and
through which they carried their produce to
Sangre Grande, was
crumbling.

Deterioration

Although the requested bridge was constructed, it was now dilapidated. The village
was now badly deteriorated, swampy, and one
had to cross two rivers
and other tributaries, to
get out of the village.
But, while there is
concern about the preservation of the site, the
major worry is the quarrying that is being done,
and the encroaching of
what has been deemed
as a burial ground.
Quare means a place
of gravel, or a stony

UWI senior lecturer Dr Brinsley Samaroo led a six-year search for the lost village

place, very apt for the
site. But, while the area
is stony, its soil is very
rich and has been a great
producer of vegetables
and ground provision,
something which the
Afro-American Muslims
produced.
Valencia
is
still
known for its lush gardens where many people
still make a living off the
land.
Director
of
the
Mandinka
Research
Foundation
Khalid

Hassan said they wanted to have the site be
declared as the Hondo
River Heritage Site, but
feared it may be too little, too late.
Hassan said when
he and other foundation
members went to the
site a couple of weeks
ago, they encountered
huge craters where a
concrete and gravel company had been excavating for many years.
“The space that we
knew as Quare, the

African Heritage Village
site, when we returned
there recently about two
weeks ago, three quarters of that space had
gone,” Hassan said.
The site is located off
the Valencia Old Road.

Quarrying

“We fear that the
quarrying
operation
would erode the whole
site. On that site there
is a burial ground, a
place where the African
Muslims occupied in
the early stages. They

volunteer, working in
the Postal and Income
Tax Departments before joining the Bureau
of
Publicity
and
Information in 1933;
Seymour obtained the
position of head of the
Government Information
Services in 1954.
His accolades include the post of information and cultural collaboration officer of the
Caribbean Organisation,
based in Puerto Rico,
community relations officer and then public relations officer at the
Demerara Bauxite, literary co-ordinator for the
first Caribbean Festival
of Arts (Carifesta), held
in Guyana; and deputy chairman of the
Department of Culture
and Director of Creative
Writing.
During
his
career, he was also honorary secretary of the
British Guiana Union of
Cultural Clubs (1943–
50), deputy chairman
of the Guyana National
Trust (1974–75), president of the British
Guiana Music Festival
Committee, and president of the International
PEN
Club’s
British
Guiana Centre. (Guyana
Times)

used there as their burial ground and there are
thousands of graves,”
Hassan said.
Foundation member
Saifuddin Tijani said
200 years ago, 700 families were relocated to
the area.
“If they lived there
so many years it means
children, grand children, great grand children, as they died, they
were buried there, so
no one could even have
a perfect figure in their
mind as to the amount of
bodies are in the burial
site,” he said.
Hassan said there
were specific mounds
that were sighted by
Sulaiman Hosein, who
worked with Samaroo in
locating the site.
“...The site is in high
woods. It is considered
consecrated
ground,
very spiritual ground.
The threat is real in
that the quarrying people have no regards at
all. They would quarry out that whole place
and there would be no
trace left,” Hassan said.
(Excerpted
from
TT
Newsday)

24

feature

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | week ending January 16, 2014

Resolutions
S

everal young men
and women have
been shortlisted as
the quest for Guyana’s
Next Top Model kicks off.
The models were on
Saturday evening introduced to the Guyanese
media at the special
launch party held at
the Millennium Manor
Hotel on Hadfield Street,
Georgetown. The delegates were selected after
auditions were done in
Berbice, Demerara and
Georgetown.
The next step, however, is an audition to
be held in Bartica which
will see the selection of
at least another five persons being added to the
contestants’ list. The
contestants will make a
number of public appearances aimed at boosting
their confidence and selfesteem.
The initiative is being promoted by private
businesswomen,
who
think that this is an excellent event to stimulate the interest of the
young people to get them

Former Guyana Model Search winner Steven Baggot

involved in fashion and
modelling.
The next top model will be crowned after
the contestants would
have gone through rigorous routines in the form
of fashion, designing and
other events. This will
take the shape of a reality show. As in any reality show, there will be
eliminations as the event
comes to a climax.
The
organisers,

Yonette Bacchus and
June Ann Ross are optimistic that the event will
be one with a difference
and will see the winner walking away with
at least Gy$1 million in
cash and prizes. The winners will also each gain a
one-year contract with
the Millennium Manor
Hotel that will see them
becoming spokespersons
for the entity and engaging in commercial and

other opportunities.
Since 2008, Guyana
top models have emerged
from Guyana’s Model
Search which is an annual feature at the Guyana
Fashion Week organised
by Sonia Noel.
Noel said that she is
not part of the Guyana’s
Next Top Model initiative, but is willing to offer any guidance if called
upon. However, she stated that she will continue to focus her attention
of her brand, Guyana
Model Search.
Noel
is
presently in Barbados where
the Annual Barbados
Music Awards are held.
She will be an honoured
guest as she is bestowed
with a life achievement
award in fashion.
After her recent successes in Guyana, the
Caribbean and further
afield, Noel has been
recognsied as a woman
of worth and one who is
dedicated in the promotion of young people and
their talents. (Guyana
Times)

e n o w n e d
Barbadian
writer,
Kamau
Brathwaite, took the
first prize in the 2013
Frank Collymore Literary
Endowment
(FCLE)
awards, followed by educator Ronald Williams and
newcomer Mark Ramsey
Saturday night.
Brathwaite, who is
widely considered one of
the major voices in the
Caribbean literary arena and has copped several international awards,
including the Neustadt
International Prize for
Literature, was unable
to attend and receive his
award for his collection,
‘The Lazarus Poems’, described by the evening’s
announcer and FCLE
committee member, De
Carla Applewhaite, as a
piece which “ultimately
transcends the thread of
death”.
Ronald Williams’ ‘The
Memoir’, a thriller and
romance piece, was an-

nounced second prize winner at this, the FCLE 16th
Annual Awards.
Nineteen–year-old
Mark Ramsey took the
third prize for ‘Generation
with the world in our
Mouths’ that Applewhaite
said “impressed the judges
with its aspiration to a distinctive voice and style”.
Central Bank representative on the FCLE
committee and manager of
the Frank Collymore Hall,
Fran Wickham, said interest was high and numerous young people were involved in the programme.
“Youth are turning out
as many of them like the
spoken word component.
Plus, the $20 000 worth
of prizes is also an incentive in addition to the
Prime Minister and John
Wickham Awards,” she
said.
Wickham said they
also held workshops by
guest writers which were
well attended. The programme, she explained,

was in line with the
mandate of the Frank
Collymore Hall and, by extension, the Central Bank.
“We are the cultural
arm of the bank and this
event falls into our mandate of supporting culture.
The Frank Collymore Hall
is not just about shows.”
FCLE
chairman
Antonio Rudder, said they
were encouraged by the
level and competitiveness
of the 44 entrants this

able in schools as a result of Collymore’s widow
Ellice asking the committee to have her late husband’s work reprinted.
Featured speaker for
the night was Guyaneseborn
author/actress
Pauline Melville, who
urged writers not to be
defined or constrained by
their physical reality as
imagination was freedom
which should not be defined by sociology.

year. He said the workshops – Writers Helping
Writers – were fruitful as
criticism, when handled
correctly, could lead to
writers gaining a greater
understanding and appreciation of their roles and to
improve ways of expressing and transmitting their
messages.
Rudder also said
new editions of the late
Frank Collymore’s works
– ‘Collected Poems and
Rhymed Ruminations On
The Fauna Of Barbados’
– would be made avail-

“Literature is part
dream and dreams do
not obey the laws of sociology, economics, history or even journalism.
Certainly realism is an
important strand of literature but it is not the only
one, and powerful myths
and stories from many
different sources have
often influenced writers
and have been used by
them to illuminate the
human condition,” she
stated. (Excerpted from
Nations and Barbados
Today)

T

By Anu Dev

he new year is well and truly underway.
Many of us marked the New Year with
resolutions to change some of the
things we weren’t quite happy with last year.
Unfortunately, (but most likely) most of us
haven’t managed to keep all of our resolutions.
The mind is willing but the flesh is weak!
I know I usually have the habit of being
overly ambitious in my goals – planning to
complete huge amounts of things in one day
that realistically, I probably won’t be able to
complete in a week. It’s like stacking the odds
against you and setting yourself up to fail. I
hereby resolve to ease up in this department!
I know most schools have opened and
homework’s being hurled at students from all
angles. But it’s really not too late to sit down
and methodically plan out how you want to use
your time for the new semester. Better yet, for
university students, the semester hasn’t even
begun yet. We still have a couple more days to
plan out our semester. If anything, our grades
from the first semester that are slowly filtering
out (osmosis?) should pretty much be enough
motivation to spur us on to want to do better
than last semester.
For my high school readers, I know from
(bitter?) experience, that in fifth form, being on
this (wrong) side of January 1st, you’re kind of
propelled faster and faster to your first exam
date. Somewhere between the mounds of SBAs,
past papers, and frantically trying to cover what’s
left of the syllabus, time slips away. And before
you know it, it’s the morning of your first exam.
So take the time now, before you get swept away
in the whirlwind of the days up ahead and plan,
set goals, get more organised than you were last
semester.
It’s going to take some time, a lot of thinking,
and a lot of self-evaluation to make sure your
goals are realistically achievable. But it’ll be
worth it, because a couple of months from
now, you won’t be in a panic over not covering
everything, or not working enough papers
because you would have already covered those
things according to your plan.
Panic is probably one of the most dangerous
emotions to have during exams. Your mind
can literally go blank and you can find yourself
unable to remember things like the names of the
20-something poems you covered for English B.
Deep breaths and taking some time to collect
your thoughts can prove to be incredibly helpful.
It’s not for nothing panicked persons are advised
to take a deep breath – it actually works! Oxygen
getting to your brain and all that!
Don’t let procrastination get the best of you
this year. We’re all guilty of procrastination at
some time or the other, some of us much more
than others. And it’s usually the crushing regret
afterwards, when we realise we could’ve done
so much better (if only!!!) that brings us to our
senses.
So don’t end off 2014 with regrets, it’s early
enough to make realistic goals. Stick to your
goals and don’t give up on those resolutions just
yet.

Bollywood

25

week ending January 16, 2014 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Privacy is the price for stardom,
says Malaika

A

ctress-producer Malaika Arora
Khan says actors don't have privacy as it is the price they have
to pay for the fame they enjoy, and if
they can't handle it, she suggests them
to leave the field.
"That goes with the territory and
you are robbed of your privacy, but
that's the price you pay. It's (media)
pretty much like how it's in the west.
The media was never in your face like
they are now. It's part of your job. If
you can't handle it, don't be here,"
Malaika told IANS.
Her husband and actor-filmmaker
Arbaaz Khan's take on media seems to
be slightly different. Arbaaz, accompanied by family, was recently clicked by
several photographers at the Mumbai
airport, and he certainly didn't look
excited as he told them to stop taking
their pictures. (TOI)

AbRam, and he is trying to cut down on
his smoking in order to be able to have
a great body and also to be able to play
football and hockey with his son Aryan
and daughter Suhana.
Meanwhile, the ‘Dhoom 3’ actor
said that he is looking forward to welcoming his nephew Imran Khan's baby
in their family.
Bachchan said that even though he

Sushmita Sen gearing up
for 2014 comeback

S

ushmita Sen has lost weight and
is gearing up for a comeback this
year.
The ‘Biwi No. 1’ actress said 2014 is

going to be her year.
"I have been preparing actually
since 2013. I know every time an actor
loses weight or starts looking fitter or
thinner, it is always for a reason. But
this is me getting ready for the most
fantastic time of my life in all aspects.
Professionally and personally 2014 is
going to be my year," the 38-year-old
said at an art exhibition.
Sushmita is eagerly awaiting the
announcement of two projects, one of
which goes on floors in July.
"Professionally you are going to see
me back this year for sure. We have
two very nice announcements, hopefully they should happen soon," Sushmita
said.
"The filming for one of them begins
in July and the rest of them is more of
combining the entrepreneur side of me
and the actor and the mum side of me,
all of it together," she added.
Sushmita is known for hits like
‘Main Hoon Na’, starring Shah Rukh
Khan, and has two adopted daughtersRenee and Alisah. (TOI)

‘My dad is my hero’- Salman Khan

S

alman Khan has
described his father as his real life

hero.
The actor's father
Salim Khan is a renowned
Bollywood
screenwriter, who is
credited with writing the
cult classic film ‘Sholay’
with Javed Akhtar.
Speaking
to
The
Times of India the ‘Jai
Ho’ star said: "I am not
that typical good guy. I
want to drive my car, go
to my party, have a good
time and don't want to
apologise for my position.
"I don't want to spend
s**tloads of money to
create an aura that I am
a humble man," he explained.
"My dad is 80-yearsold, but even today he
sits outside our house
everyday
and
signs
cheques to give away to
the needy. He is a very
straight man. He is very
knowledgeable."
Khan continued: "My

Celebrity parents reveal
their new year resolutions

whole problem with my
father while growing up
was, why was he so right
when I was so wrong.
"I always wanted to
prove him wrong even
though I always knew
he was right, till one
day when I decided that
I just would go by him.
Even if he was wrong 49
times, I knew he would
be right 51 times."
Khan also credited
the name change of his
film from ‘Mental’ to ‘Jai
Ho’ to his father.
"My father had a
problem with ‘Mental’
and rightly so, especially coming with me in just

the way I would be called
out. In this day and age,
if a guy is honest, noncorrupt and righteous, he
is called mental, as being
corrupt and getting corrupted has become a part
of us. If a man is honest,
we will say, 'don't go to
him. He is mental'.
"My dad then gave
‘Jai Ho’ which is a bigger and better title. So,
the reason for changing
it was that our father
was not happy. Period.
Full stop. He is our father. His experience is
immense. Something he
has written 40 years ago,
Sholay, is still running
and people are still going
mad about it.”
The actor portrays an
ex-army veteran in the
film, who challenges the
might of a powerful politician on behalf of society's oppressed.
Tabu, Daisy Shah and
Om Puri also star in ‘Jai
Ho’, which is scheduled
for release on January
24. (Digital Spy)

C

elebrity parents in Bollywood,
including
Shahrukh
khan,
Aamir Khan and Abhishek
Bachchan, have shed light on their
new year resolutions as parents.
Shahrukh told Parents India
Magazine that he has vowed to stay
extra fit for his six-month-old baby

doesn't believe in making new year resolutions, but as a parent he wants to
give his daughter Aradhya a good education and good upbringing.
While hot new mum-of-one Lara
Dutta said that she is looking forward
to discovering more and more about
her baby girl Saira, Malaika Arora
Khan added that she wants to spend
more time with her son Arhaan by taking more holidays together. (TOI)

Raveena Tandon goes
kayaking in Thailand

R

aveena Tandon was recently in
Krabi, Thailand, on a vacation
with husband Anil Thadani and
kids. While the family were exploring interesting adventure sports, they
came across kayaking.
Raveena was initially hesitant,
but she eventually gave in and tried
it for the first time. "When I saw that
my son, who is six, was gung-ho about
doing it, I didn't want to look scared
in front of him. So, to look like a cool
mom, we went kayaking. Eventually,
we even paddled up to a little island
and had our own little picnic. Since it
was a small island where we were the
only ones, I felt like Robinson Crusoe,"
she said. (TOI)

Amitabh Bachchan
grateful to film fraternity

M

e g a s t a r
A m i t a b h
Bachchan, who
was honoured with the
Lifetime
Achievement
Award at a recent
awards event, says he
does not have any words

to thank the film industry for the grace and honour given to him.
The 71-year-old was
given the honour by veteran actor Shatrughan
Sinha and filmmaker
Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

"The grace and honour with which colleagues and friends, and
all those behind the scene
workers, commemorate
the 45 years of my existence in this wonderful
world of films, can never have sufficient words
to fill that immortal cup
of gratitude," Amitabh
posted on his blog.
He said it was an
"awkward moment" for
him to go on stage and
say a few words after receiving the award.
"Perhaps it is easier
for those that express, it
certainly is not the most
easiest for him that has
to sit in not too great a
distance, to listen and
wait for that call from
the stage to come up and
get it! Get the reward,"
Big B posted. (TOI)

26

hollywood

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | week ending January 16, 2014

DiCaprio hears 'weird
Nick Cannon keeps
marriage to Mariah Carey noises' in his house
alive with lots of sex
A

N

ick Cannon has
confessed that he
and wife Mariah
Carey keep their marriage alive with lots of
sex.
The couple also enjoys
spending quality time together on vacation and
had recently taken their
twins to Aspen, Us magazine reported.
The 33-year-old actor
said that it was wonderful and they do that every
year, by going away and
have a nice little Winter
Wonderland. (TOI)

ctor Leonardo DiCaprio says he
hears "weird noises" in his house
at nights. However, he is sure
it isn't haunted because he doesn't believe in ghosts.
The 39-year-old actor said that the
last time that he was "truly terrified"
was when he was woken in the middle of the night by an odd sound coming from another room in his house, reports contactmusic.com.
"My home makes weird noises at
times and I have to get up in the middle
of the night and check if there's somebody breaking in...I don't know, it's like
creaking or something, it's weird ghost
noises, but I don't believe in ghosts
so...it's like the wind or the way it was
built," he said.
His latest release was ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’. (TOI)

Jennifer Lawrence almost lost
Zac Efron doesn't object to sex on first date diamond bling at Golden Globes

J

Z

ac Efron has confessed that he
doesn't object to having sex on
the first date, saying that sex is a
beautiful thing.
The 26-year-old actor told Glamour
magazine that every single girl has
something different and special about
her, Us magazine reported.
He added that if one finds someone
who clicks with their vibe, fate brings
people together.
However, Efron admitted that the
most important thing for him in a relationship is honesty and said that at

first, sometimes girls don't show their
genuine personality. (TOI)

‘Life after 30 bliss’ - Julia Roberts

A

ctress Julia Roberts says she
had the best time since leaving
her 20s behind.
The 46-year-old says the last 16
years have been the best of her life,
as she doesn't have the hang-ups that
she had in her 20s, reports femalefirst.
co.uk.
"On my 30th, every person I loved
and adored in the world was with me.
I was excited and could not understand
the tone of doom about leaving my
youth behind," she said.
"Since then, my life has been bliss.
If I knew that 30 was going to be so
much fun, I would have done it at 22!"
she added.
Roberts got married to Daniel
Moder in 2002 and they have nineyear-old twins Hazel and Phinnaeus
and six-year-old Henry. (TOI)

Beyonce, Jay-Z rent out Miami
Zoo for daughter's birthday

P

rincess Blue must have had a
roaring good time! Queen Bey
and Jay Z's only child Blue Ivy
got the royal treatment when she
turned 2 years old on Jan. 7. Her famous parents rented out Jungle Island,
a wildlife park and botanical garden in
Miami, Florida.
During the fun and rainy outing,
the birthday girl donned a green ensemble and sneakers. She also borrowed Beyonce's "Flawless" gold necklace (a nod to the feminist anthem of
the same name on her titular fifth album) that the megastar, 32, posed with
via Instagram on Dec. 30.
The 44-year-old rapper went casual in an oversized sweatshirt, while
the "XO" songstress dressed down in a
"Surfboard" sweatshirt while swiping
her chestnut locks back in a knit cap.
Surfboard is a reference to Beyonce's
raunchy-romanctic "Drunk In Love"

ennifer Lawrence almost lost one
of her diamond bracelets, as they
fell off her hand at the Golden
Globes 2014.
It seems that the 23-year-old actress hadn't noticed that her extremely
expensive piece of jewellery was missing as she continued talking to Ryan
Seacrest, PVR Pictures reported.
However, someone else did, and
rushed over to scoop it up for Lawrence.
(TOI)

‘I look better than at 25’ - Cameron Diaz

C

ameron
Diaz
loves her body
and thinks you
should love yours, too.
"I don't want to look
like I did when I was
25," the actress, 41, tells
PEOPLE. "I like the way
that I look now; better
than when I was 25. I
can't help that other people may be uncomfortable with that, but that's
not my responsibility
to make them feel okay
with the fact that I'm
getting older. I'm okay
with it. I like it."
In her new tome, The
Body Book, Diaz opens
up about her own struggles with food, her beliefs about beauty and
her suggestions for getting healthy in the new
year.
"There's no such
thing as anti-aging,"

Diaz tells PEOPLE.
"There's no such thing as
turning back the hands
of time, and it makes me
crazy that we live in a
society where that's sold
to women–that we're
supposed to believe that
if we're getting older,
we've failed somehow,
that we have failed by
not staying young."

Streep finds Katie
Holmes perfect for son

V

song, which features a rap from Jay Z
himself.
After the adventure, the trio headed to Joey's Italian Cafe for a bite to
eat. The family sat at a large round table and ordered pizza. At one point, Jay
Z even gave Blue a cell phone when she
began to fuss, asking her to "say thank
you" first. And she did! (US Magazine)

"I wish that women
would let other women
age gracefully and allow
them to get older and
know that as we get older, we become wiser."
When she was younger, Diaz struggled with
acne, which she eventually connected to all
of the fast food that she
was eating. (People)

eteran actress Meryl Streep has
reportedly hit it off well with
Katie Holmes, and she believes
the latter will be the perfect girlfriend
for her son Henry Wolfe Gummer.
The 64-year-old got on well with her
‘Giver’ co-star, who has seven-year-old
daughter Suri with ex-husband Tom
Cruise. When her new friend told
her she was ready to find love again,
Streep instantly thought of her son
Henry Wolfe Gummer.
"Katie and Meryl got on like a house
on fire. Katie was quite open about
wanting to have a man in her life again
and Meryl decided to show her a picture of Henry," femalefirst.co.uk quoted a source as saying. (TOI)

feature

27

week ending January 16, 2014 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Young Jamaican participates in three-day stint
at Apollo Astronaut Space Academy in Florida

W

hile
saying
that he may
have the time
and attitude to change
career paths and pursue becoming an astronaut, 25-year-old Dante
Djokovic admitted that
this step would require
a 180-degree turn, and
even then, he lacks the
funding necessary. He,
however,
encourages
anyone who wants to
create space history for
Jamaica to go for it.
Djokovic, who has
been a legal clerk with
a law firm in Kingston
since he graduated from
Excelsior High School
a few years ago, recently represented Jamaica
on a three-day stint at
Apollo Astronaut Space
Academy (AASA) in
Orlando, Florida. He describes the experience
as "some part awesome,
some part life-changing,

countries.
"We
bonded,
we
shared our cultures, and
we joked around without
any conflict whatsoever."

History

"Then Axe came along
and gave us the opportu-

Dante Djokovic proudly represented
Jamaica. (Jamaica Observer photos)

and some part breathtaking".
He was among more
than 100 candidates who
represented 60 different

nity to do the impossible,
to scratch off both titles
on the list of the great
things we have achieved
as a country," Djokovic

continued. "A chance to
create history...someone
had to do it and on July
1, 2013, I answered the
call. And even though I
didn't get to go to space
in the end, and I won't
say I'm not disappointed,
but (we can) look at it as
(if) we're halfway there,"
said Djokovic.
He explained how he
got to participate in the
programme that saw him
shaking hands with Buzz
Aldrin, one the first men
to walk on the surface
of the moon, being flown
in a plane, visiting the
National Aeronautics and
Space
Administration
(NASA), seeing rockets
and shuttles being fitted
together, and watching
the launch of a satellite
light up the evening sky.

Global competition

"I was at work one
evening when I came
across an article in a
newspaper online stating

that Axe Body Spray was
keeping a global competition for a chance to go to
space and Jamaica was
included in the eligible
countries," Djokovic reflected, adding, "all you
had to do was have your
family and friends vote
for you. Sure, why not,"
said Djokovic. "Plus it
was close to my birthday
so I just sent out a message to everyone on my
Facebook (page) to not
get me any gift chances
are I may not like, so just
click on this link instead
and vote for me."
He was eventually selected to represent
Jamaica.
"But if anyone or organisation out there
wants to be a part of
making Jamaica's space
history, [they] can start
be visiting http://xcor.
com/flytospace," Djokovic
offered. (Excerpted from
Jamaica Observer)

Antigua and Barbuda on Association of British
Travel Agents’ 2014 ‘Destinations to Watch’ list

T

he
Association
of British Travel
Agents
(ABTA)
recently
named
the
Caribbean, and, specifically, Antigua and
Barbuda as one of its ten
destinations to watch
2014. In it, the ABTA also
noted it's “cautious optimism” for the 2014 tourism season.
According to the report on UK tourists,
"nearly one in five (19%)
consumers
anticipate
they will spend more on
holidays next year." The
report also noted that
there is "renewed interest in Caribbean resorts"
among British tourists.
"To hear that many
British tourists plan to
spend more and have
a renewed interest in
Caribbean resorts is
encouraging,"
noted
Antigua and Barbuda’s
Tourism Minister John
Maginley. "It's also encouraging to see a new
airline, Thomas Cook,

Antigua and Barbuda is anticipating more British tourists
to the Caribbean this year. (A&B gov’t)

serving Antigua out of
a new UK destination,
Manchester. The airline
is capable of bringing
over 300 British tourists
a week."
Maginley continued,
"The fact that we've also
attracted the BEACHES

resort which will add 400
new BEACHES rooms to
our hotel stock and create
thousands of jobs is a vote
of confidence in the future
of our tourism economy."
"While I know that
we certainly have to continue to work hard to cre-

ate more jobs and opportunity for all people, this
honour from the British
Travel Agents and their
words about British consumer spending is encouraging," the minister
concluded. (Antigua &
Barbuda government)

Guyanese television host WR Reaz will be a part of the
host team of this year’s Plus Chutney Soca Monarch
in Trinidad and Tobago. (Guyana Times file photo)

G

uyanese
artistes are getting ready for the
2014 Lotto Plus Chutney
Soca Monarch (CSM)
which remains one of the
main attractions for the
Carnival season.
George Singh, CEO
at Southex Promotions,
producer of the CSM recently held a meeting
at the Pegasus Hotel
in Georgetown with artistes and other performers in the country. Singh
said there will be a preliminary competition in
Guyana on the January
25.
He noted that this
year, the winner of that
show will qualify to compete in the semi finals
on February 1 in TT.
“We are no longer allowing the Guyanese
Chutney Soca singers to
go straight to the finals,”
Singh said, adding that
they have to earn their
place in 2014. There are
also many artistes from
Guyana that have entered the TT competition
directly, he reported.
Singh also made
the announcement that
Guyanese
television
host WR Reaz will be a
part of the host team
of this year’s competition. Top Guyanese
dance group the Ishara
Dancers has also been
contracted to perform in
the main chutney shows
by Southex for Carnival
this year.
Singh was featured
in the Guyana Chronicle
in an article by Priya Ali.
He told the Guyanese
media that this year’s
Chutney Soca Monarch
competition will see an
investment of almost
US$3 million, and it is
supported by the government of TT. He also

noted that the show has
produced international
stars such as Ravi B and
Rikki Jai.
Singh said, “It is our
hope that the continued development and involvement of Guyanese
artistes, coupled with
the trust that we bring
to the table, can only
augur well for the local
music industry here in
Guyana.”
Foreign-based
Guyanese artistes have
already entered the competition directly through
Trinidad, and some local artistes, including
Prince JP and Roger
Hinds, have done so
as well. In the last two
years, Guyanese artistes
have been involved in
the television hosting of
the event, and as guest
artistes as well.
Reaz, who has a passion for chutney soca
music, is excited about
this national event for
Carnival.
First runner up to the
Miss Guyana/India 2011
competition,
Shivanie
Latchman leads the
Ishara Dance Troupe.
She is the owner of a
convenience store in her
community of Diamond,
East Bank Demerara.
She is the chief choreographer of the Ishara
Dancers. She has also
voiced her opinion on
the CSM saying that the
Guyanese
performers
have a lot to gain from
this exercise in terms of
publicity.
The very ambitious
Shivanie is also the
host and producer of
Entertainment Buzz, a
programme that is designed to showcase the
rich and diverse talents
of Guyanese entertainers. (TT Newsday)

28

feature

www.caribbeantimesinternational.com | week ending January 16, 2014

Shandell Roberts talks about her
marriage to TT’s Sport Minister

T

o John Public he
is Anil Roberts,
Trinidad
and
Tobago’s Minister of
Sport, often perceived as
rough, loud and outgoing. But to his new bride
Shandell Roberts, formerly Nicholls, he is a
soft, compassionate man
with whom she fell in
love. The deep affection
she holds for Roberts
was evident, as a smile
erupted any and every
time his name was mentioned.
Questions such as
how did you two meet?
What attracted you to
him? brought a slight
blush to her face. There
was familiarity and ease
when the 21-year-old
spoke of her 44-yearold husband, of just
some weeks, with TT
media last Friday at
the Ministry of Sport,
Abercromby Street, Portof-Spain.
Many are puzzled
about when and how the
two met. “That is the
question of the year,”

she said laughing, when
asked how she and
Roberts met. For some
it seemed like a whirlwind romance. Shandell
said it was like any other
two people meeting and
falling in love. Roberts,
she said, was always
a friend of the family.
But on a fated evening
in November 2012 the
two met at a buddy walk
for special needs children. Shandell’s brother, Daniel has Down’s
Syndrome.
“From that day, the
meeting at the buddy
walk, that was it. It was
all downhill from here,”
she related.
Roberts, she said,
made her feel very special during the courting
process, sending roses
almost every day, lunch
dates, and being very
supportive.

match in St Lucia during
the July/August vacation period last year. So
it was little surprise that
the couple’s December
31 wedding took place at
the very spot he asked
her to marry him. For
Shandell, so far, married life has been bliss
although she has been
contending with the public demands on her prominent husband.
She described being
in the limelight as bittersweet. “I have never been
one to like the spotlight,
so it has been an interesting transition. I am
very private and quite,
and people who know
Anil says he is quite the
opposite...I was never
a people person. Being
with Anil broadened my
horizon dealing with peo-

ple. There are positives,
but also negatives.
“Your privacy is also
lost now. It is a little
hard transitioning to
that, but at the end of the
day, when I am at home
with Anil, it is happy and
worth it. When you think
about the times and love
that we have for each
other...,” she said.
Although some think
the age difference might
hinder the couple, Anil
being 23 years older than
his wife, Shandell said it
was a matter of maturity and that once couples
were mature it could
work.
The University of the
West Indies open campus student hopes to
become a teacher soon.
(Excerpted
from
TT
Guardian)

One-year-and-amonth later, the two
were engaged. Roberts,
she said, popped the
question during a cricket

F

rom a very early age Shamain Greaves knew music
was her calling. Born June 3, 1992 in Georgetown,
Shamain is the daughter of the lead singer of
Frontline, a popular band based in Guyana. With her
inherent talent, the signer draws her musical influences
from reggae, R&B, soul and those unforgettable golden
oldies. At age 3, Shamain moved to the U.S. and by age
5 began attending Thomas G. Pullen, an arts magnet
school located in Landover, Maryland. There Shamain
studied the violin and joined the school orchestra
where she would hone her skills and expand her musical
influences until graduation. After Pullen she attended
Suitland High School in Forestville, Maryland, where
she continued to study the violin, but began to sense a
burning passion for singing. Her strong enthusiasm for
singing took over her sophomore year when, through an
internship programme called Hip-hop High, she found
herself behind the microphone in Gudda Musik (GM)
studios recording her very first song. Upon graduating
from Suitland, Shamain signed to the GM label in 2010.
The velvety-voiced singer/songwriter brings a unique
element through her R&B music. She released her first
project in May 2012- a mix-tape entitled “My Diary”
which received rave reviews and more than 4,000
downloads in the first month. It is so easy to fall in love
with this songbird’s sultry vocals which is why new fans
are added to her list every day. Shamain was recently
chosen as a candidate for the “Top DMV R&B Artists
2013”.

sport

29

week ending January 16, 2014 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

Shivnarine Chanderpaul still available for all formats

H

e may not be
dashing as Viv
Richards,
imposing as Chris Gayle,
flambouyant as Brian
Lara or classy as Rahul
Dravid. Yet, Shivnarine
Chanderpaul’s dogged
presence at the crease
has frustrated many a
bowlers the world over.
His stats are mindboggling: 443 matches
at the international level in a career nearing 20
years speak to his fortitude and desire to excel.
A total of 20,340 runs
at the highest level, inclusive of 40 centuries
and 121 half-centuries,
makes him a modern
day giant and presently places him among the
greats of the game.
Only last month
during
the
series
against New Zealand,
Chanderpaul
became
the
seventh
player in history, second
West Indian and first
Guyanese to pass 11,000
Test runs. Immediately
after, he scored 122 not
out- his 29th Test century- to draw level with

Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s last appearance in an ODI
was during the 50-over World Cup in 2011.

the great Australian Sir
Donald Bradman and
remained second behind
Brian Lara (34) as the
West Indians with the
most Test hundreds.
While the “Tiger”
continues to reel off the
runs unabated in Test
cricket, his One Day
International (ODI) career was abruptly cut
off after the 50-over
World Cup in 2011 on

the premise that he was
part of a band of “senior players” who simply did not hold their
weight and were blamed
by coach Ottis Gibson
for the team’s departure
from the tournament at
the quarter-final stage.
Chris
Gayle,
Ramnaresh Sarwan and
Kieron Pollard were
also chastised for their
showing- or lack there-

of- and while they have
all regained selection
to the team at some
point, the left-handed
Chanderpaul remains
on the sidelines.
It has been two
years, 10 months since
Chanderpaul last played
an ODI, during which
time he has remained
fit and active to last five
days of Test cricket and
still produce heavily in

the most difficult of circumstances.
Over the past two decades, the gritty middleorder batsman has risen
to the demands of international cricket, and to
this day, the desire and
eagerness to prolong his
ODI career are as strong
as 1994 when, as a teenager, he walked out to
face England on his Test
debut at Bourda.
“I’m
still
available for all formats,”
Chanderpaul
told
Guyanese media recently.
The
2008
ICC
Cricketer-of-the-Year
reiterated that he has
never retired from limited overs cricket, and
would want to scale similar heights in ODIs as
he has done in Tests.
“My desire has always been to score
10,000 runs in both
forms- Tests and ODIsand while it’s a dream
come through to get
past 11,000 Test runs
a few weeks ago, I still
feel I can contribute in
ODIs and I’m always

available for selection,”
Chanderpaul explained.
With 8,778 runs from
268 ODIs, Chanderpaul
is the second highest runscorer for West
Indies in the format
behind Lara, who has
notched up 10,348 runs
from a record 299 games.

Super50

The
NAGICO
Super50 regional tournament is set to bowl
off on January 30 and
run until February 17
and Chanderpaul will
be available to represent
Guyana throughout the
competition.
He is also looking
forward to the regional
Four-day competition,
which will follow, before
heading off to honour
his contractual obligations with English county side, Derbyshire.
International
engagements
thereafter
mean Chanderpaul is
faced with a packed year
of cricket, but unfazed
by the hectic schedule,
he is prepared to make
a return to ODI cricket.
(Guyana Times)

new female champion
will
be
crowned when the
32nd edition of the TT
International Marathon
runs off on January 26
at 5 am at Freeport,
as last year’s winner
Nigerian-born American

tendor Phillip Lagat of
Kenya.
Competitors have the
option to begin the race
at 3.30 am, to reduce the
time running in the sun.
At the launch of
the event Tuesday at
the Normandie Hotel,

WADA (World AntiDoping Agency)-trained
personnel Andre Collins,
who is going to do this
for us.”
The top finishers and
two random athletes will
be tested on race day by
Collins and his staff.

Race Director, Francis Williams-Smith from left chats with TT International
Marathon Chairman, Diane Henderson centre and Blue Waters, Brand
Manager, Chantal Lefevre right during the launch of the TT International
Marathon Tuesday at Normandie Hotel. (TT Guardian photo)

Mary Akor was banned
last month by the US
Anti-Doping Agency for
failing a drug test.
Akor, 37, who also
won the UWI half marathon in October last
year, is banned for two
years after testing positive for Clenbuterol. As
a result, Kenyan Leah
Kigen, who competed
last year, will be the favourite among the women. Other than top locals,
athletes are expected from USA, Jamaica,
Canada, Japan, Ethiopia
and Brazil.
Among the men, veteran local runner Curtis
Cox will try to upset
last year’s winner Juan
Carlos Cardona Rios of
Colombia and top con-

St Anns, race director
Francis Williams-Smith,
said that getting rid of
drugs in sports is difficult.
He stated: “As you
know in the athletic fraternity and all sporting
disciplines, the presence
of drugs in performanceenhancing supplements
is a big challenge.”
Chairperson of the TT
Marathon Committee,
Diane Henderson, said
because of the Mary
Akor situation, efforts
are being made to ensure fair competition.
She said: “Out of
the incident with Mary
Akor, we decided to push
and introduce in 2014
anti-doping, we are happy to say we have the

The half marathon
will also be held on
January 26, starting at
5.45 am. The half marathon will cover the second half of the marathon course, starting
near to Walker Park,
Caroni. Both the marathon and half marathon
will finish at White Hall,
around the Queen’s Park
Savannah (QPS).
Petite TT runner
Tonya Nero, is one of the
favourites in the shorter version. The weekend’s activities will commence on January 25
with a schools relay at 3
pm around the QPS, followed by a 5k at 4 pm at
the same venue. Both
events will end at White
Hall. (TT Guardian)

Jamaica's Reggae Boyz celebrating a goal against the United States in a World
Cup qualifier at the National Stadium last year. (Jamaica Gleaner file photo)

J

amaica's
Reggae
Boyz will tackle
1998
World
Cup football champions
France in a friendly international on Sunday,
June 8 at the Stade
Pierre Maury in Lille,
France.
France,
popularly
called Les Bleus, will
use the game to wrap
up preparation for the
2014 FIFA World Cup in
Brazil which kicks off on
June 12. Les Bleus will
open their campaign
against
CONCACAF
qualifiers Honduras on
June 15 in Group E in
the preliminary stage.
Meanwhile,
the
Reggae Boyz, who failed
to win a game and ended
last in the CONCACAF
World Cup final stage

last year, will look to rebuild the national senior
team and brand Reggae
Boyz.
"This game will be
extremely important in
the federation's effort
to rebuild the national senior team, and is
part of my stated commitment to Jamaica's
football
programme,"
Captain Horace Burrell,
president of the Jamaica
Football
Federation,
stated via an e-mail release.
"The game happened
after negotiations and
France chose to play
Jamaica. This match
would enhance brand
Reggae Boyz," Burrell
told Jamaican media
when contacted Tuesday
morning.

"One of the requirements is for us to field
our strongest team, and
we will do everything
possible for that to happen," the JFF president
disclosed.
Meanwhile,
when
quizzed as to who will be
in charge of the Reggae
Boyz, Burrell said: "I
will not comment on the
coaching at this time.
That will be dealt with
in the next few days."
The contract of coach
Winfried Schäfer ended
last October and is yet
to be renewed.
Jamaica made a historic first World Cup
appearance at France
1998, but has failed to
qualify for the finals
since then.
(Jamaica
Gleaner)

ith the aim of
assisting in the
growth of rifle
shooting locally and improving the abilities of
the country’s riflemen,
the Guyana National
Rifle Association (GNRA)
in partnership with
the Guyana Olympic
Association (GOA), is
presently conducting a
two-week training stint
for local marksmen.
The training is being conducted by Great
Britain’s rifle shooting
coach, Ian Shaw, who
on Monday said that he
is pleased with the progress of the riflemen to
date.
The sessions, which
will cover all areas including team building,
are aimed at improving
the overall game of the
each individual, as well
as Guyana’s rifle shooting team.
“What we are looking to do is to look at in-

dividual performances of
shooters and also look at
the team as a whole and
to address areas which
need work that were already identified,” Shaw
said on Monday at a
press conference hosted
by the GNRA at Olympic
House on High Street,
Georgetown.
According to Shaw,
the individuals are keen
to learn which he said is
very heartening for the
success of the sport here.
While Shaw did not
go into the different
techniques the marksmen are part of, he pointed out that the shooters
went through their paces on the electronic Scatt
Training System.
This system, according to Shaw, analyses
every element of what
the shooters are doing
and they’ve been looking
at how they can make
small
improvements
which overall would

make vast improvements over time.
Speaking also at the
press conference, president of the Guyana
Olympic
Association
(GOA), K.A. Juman
Yassin,
said
rifle
shooting for Guyana
will be a very important component at the
Commonwealth Games.
“We have been doing well in rifle shooting
and [we] hope that with
the input with Mr. Shaw
that our team would be
able to rise higher than
what they have been doing,” Yassin said.
Yassin is also looking
forward for more cooperation from other members of the Great Britain
rifle shooting team.
Meanwhile, national captain Mahendra
Persaud expressed profound gratitude to GOA
for the making the training a reality. (Rajiv
Bisnauth)

TT’s Njisane Phillip
discharged and in good spirits

A

fter enduring a
challenging week
of medical examinations and other
tests at the Providence
Little Company of Mary
Medical Centre in Los
Angeles, California, TT’s
national cyclist, Njisane
Phillip, was finally discharged from the specialist institution approximately 12.15am (TT
time) Saturday morning.
The
cyclist,
his
mother
Vere
Marie
Whiteman,
step-father Phillip Whiteman,
SporTT representative
Nyssa Pierre, manager
Peter Maharaj and his
thousands of fans worldwide breathed a sigh of
relief when Phillip calmly and comfortably strutted out of the clinic.
Since January 3,
the Rigtech Sonics rider had been hospitalised
in California. Originally,
it was suspected that

TT’s national cyclist
Njisane Phillip

Phillip suffered common stomach pains, but
it was then revealed two
days later, that his kidneys were being compromised. And after conducting a series of tests
throughout the past
week, the multiple national champion underwent his final examination last Friday night.
The cyclist has since
been cleared to resume
training and plans to

compete at the UCI Track
World Championships in
Colombia in March.
Upon his release
from the hospital, Phillip
seemed
overwhelmed.
The 2012 Olympian and
World Cup silver medallist said, “I have been
given a second chance
and have a new lease on
life. When we were unsure what was happening, I could not believe
that my cycling career
may have been over. I
cannot express how happy I am that I can still
compete, and so soon.
“I’m
anxious
to
get back on the track
and continue to make
Trinidad and Tobago
proud. The love and
support I received from
family,
friends,
fellow athletes and fans is
something I would never
forget. It is what drives
me. Thank you all!” (TT
Newsday)

Bolt to run in Ostrava
Golden Spike in June

U

sain Bolt has
confirmed his intention to compete again at the Golden
Spike in Ostrava in
June, organisers have
said.
However
the
Jamaican sprinter says
he is still undecided
whether to run the 100
or 200 metres on June
17.
Bolt said earlier that
his goal for this year was
to break his own 200m,
world record of 19.19
seconds.
"Ostrava is a fast
track when the weather
is good,” Bolt said.
“I look forward to

Usain Bolt. (Jamaica Observer file photo)

good weather and good
performances in 2014".
The six-time Olympic
champion will race for

the seventh time at the
meet, part of the IAAF
World Challenge Series.
(Jamaica Observer)

Guyana’s Super50 squad
well balanced – manager

G

uyana’s
squad
for the upcoming West Indies
Cricket Board’s NAGICO
Super50 tournament is
one of the most well-balanced units comprising
the maximum number
of match-winners, according to team manager Alvin Johnson, who
feels it is the best chance
for the Guyanese to bag
their tenth coveted title.
The squad will be led
by West Indies Twenty20
all-rounder Christopher
Barnwell and includes
nine players who have
represented the regional side in Tests, One Day
Internationals
(ODIs)
and Twenty20s.
“We have an extremely well-balanced team
and the best part is everyone seems to be in
form,” Johnson said.
Johnson believes the
team has the advantage
of having a strong batting line-up which will
excel on batting friendly wickets. He said the
team also has enough
firepower in bowling to
compete in the tournament.
He also believes the
team’s flexibility provided by the presence of
batting and bowling allrounders will be a major
asset in the tournament.
Guyana has the services of the prolific
Shivnarine Chanderpaul,
former West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan,
West Indies middle-order batsmen Narsingh
Deonarine and Assad
Fudadin,
and
West
Indies A team batsman
Leon Johnson in their
line-up.

very strong, and if the
wickets suit the spinners, we have some quality spinners in the side,
the likes of Bishoo and
Permaul, who will exploit such conditions”
Johnson said.
“The good part of the
team is that they have
a lot of bowling and batting all-rounders, which
gives us a lot of options,”
he said.
The bowling also
hinges around fast bowlers Ronsford Beaton and
Wintz, while Anthony
Bramble is the wicketkeeper.

Newcomer

Former
national
Under-19 opener Robin
Bacchus is the lone newcomer in the team, with
fellow left-hander Trevon
Griffith being the other
opener in the squad.
On the other hand,
Johnson declared that
he is satisfied with the
team’s preparation to
date.
He applauded the
Guyana Cricket Board
in taking the initiative
to have two fitness experts from the Guyana
Defence Force (GDF),
Patrick King and Carl
Stephenson, as part of
the squad rigorous training regime.
“This is the ideal
preparation for such a
tournament,”
Johnson
said.
“I think this team is a
lot more mentally fit and
united, while the presence of Shiv and Sars is
also a positive input given their experience as
West Indies players. I
would say everyone is in
high spirits and eager to
get into action,” he concluded.

Silent

Meanwhile, following
the announcement of the
squad, Chairman of the
Senior Selection Panel
of the Guyana Cricket

Board (GCB) Rayon
Griffith remains tightlipped on the criteria
used to select the squad.
While the 14-man
squad is mixed with
youth and experience,
the announcement of the
squad has led to the resignation of former national wicketkeeper/batsman Sheik Mohamed,
who served as a member
of the Senior Selection
Panel.
Mohamed is also
questioning the selection
criteria used to select the
Super50 squad and the
omission of all-rounder
Zaheer Mohamed, legspinner Amir Khan and
batsman Jonathon Foo.

Tournament

The
NAGICO
Super50 competition will
be held from January
30 to February 15 in
Trinidad and Tobago,
featuring
Guyana,
Barbados, Trinidad and
Tobago, Jamaica, the
Windward Islands, the
Leeward Islands, the
Combined
Campuses
and Colleges and ICC affiliate side Ireland.
The
Barnwell-led
Guyana team will open
its quest for honours
against Ireland in a Zone
A match on January 31.
The other two teams
in Zone A are Jamaica
and
defending
One
Day
champions
the
Windward Islands. The
Guyanese will then play
Jamaica on February 4,
before taking on the defending champions on
February 7.
When
the
action
bowls off month-end, the
Guyanese will be aiming for a 10th regional 50-over title, the last
of which was achieved
in 2005 when they defeated Barbados in near
darkness in the final
of the KFC Cup at the
GCC ground, Bourda.
(Guyana Times)

sport

31

week ending January 16, 2014 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com

‘I rely on Paul Doyle' - Powell did not
tell coach about new supplements

S

igning autographs
for
Italian
police and driving
squad cars aside, former
100-metre world record
holder, Asafa Powell, testified Tuesday that he
did not tell his former
coach, Stephen Francis,
about nine new supplements that he received
from Canadian physical
therapist Chris Xuereb
because it was never a requirement.
Powell, 31, also admitted that he failed
to list the supplements
which he had been taking
for approximately three
weeks to doping control
officers because he simply could not remember
their names, adding that
he spent over six hours
researching the products,
which included Epiphany
D1.
The revelations were
made during Tuesday’s
opening
sitting
of
the
two-time
World
Championships
100m
bronze medallist's hearing into the presence of

Asafa Powell speaking with Danielle Chai, a member of his legal team, during
Tuesday’s opening day of the Jamaica Anti-doping Disciplinary Panel hearing at
the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston. (Jamaica Gleaner photo)

the banned stimulant,
oxilofrine in his system
from last year's National
Senior Championships at
the Jamaica Conference
Centre.
Several tests have
shown that the substance, oxilofrine, while
not listed on the product
label, is in fact present in
Epiphany D1.
Powell, who testified

for over three and a half
hours Tuesday, contradicted statements made
by Francis that he had
breached MVP Track
Club rules by taking supplements that were not
approved by him.
Francis
blasted
Powell; his agent Paul
Doyle; and another athlete, Sherone Simpson,
who also tested positive

for oxilofrine, ultimately
leading to both athletes
leaving the club.
Francis had recommended the supplements
Cell Tech, Nitro Tech,
Megaman Sport and
Vitamin C, which Powell
said he was taking inconsistently for years before switching totally to
Xuereb's regimen in the
build-up to the National

Championships.
"I don't normally consult my coach. We have a
very large club, and the
coach (Stephen Francis)
tends to a lot of athletes.
I rely on Paul (Doyle), I
trust him," Powell said
during
cross-examination from Jamaica AntiDoping
Commission
attorney
Lackston
Robinson.
While testifying during Simpson's hearing
last week, Doyle had
also laughed off the presence of any such club policy, stating: "To say that
there was actually a rule
would be laughable."
Powell also contested
suggestions that Francis
disapproved of Xuereb's
appointment by Doyle
noting, "Coach (Francis)
did not disapprove. Coach
didn't seem to have a
problem, he seemed excited to have Chris (Xuereb)
there."
‘Don’t know the code’
However, when asked
by Robinson if he was
aware of the Word Anti-

Doping Agency Code
(WADA), Powell, who
has been competing professionally since 2002,
said: "I don't know the
(WADA) code. I know
there is a list that you
are supposed to check. I
don't know the code. I see
the list when I am checking for something. I don't
know the list off the top of
my head."
Simpson also gave a
brief testimony Tuesday.
Powell was supported
by his parents, William
and Cislyn Powell; brother, Donovan Powell; his
publicist, Tara Playfair;
along with friends Andre
Hilton, Andre Palmer
and Gary Gregg.
Powell is being represented by Kwame Gordon
and Danielle Chai.
Earlier in his testimony Powell shared that he
was allowed to drive a police car after he was interrogated in Italy and
also that he was asked for
autographs and pictures.
(Excerpted from Jamaica
Gleaner)

Dismal end as Windies lose Bravo named TT captain despite poor record
T20 series to New Zealand

P

oor fielding and a
costly over from
skipper
Dwayne
Bravo disrupted West
Indies’ momentum and
helped New Zealand to a
four-wicket win in the second and final T20 match
at Westpac Stadium,
Wellington
in
New
Zealand on Wednesday.
West Indies dropped
a number of catches in
the field while an expensive 15th over by Bravo
yielded 17 runs as New
Zealand completed a successful chase after the visitors, who won the toss
and elected to bat first,
scored 159 for five.
New Zealand have
sealed the series two-nil
after also winning the
opener on Saturday.
The West Indies appeared to have lost their
way when they were reduced to 67-4 in the
11th over before Denesh
Ramdin
and
Andre
Russell breathed life into
their innings.
Opener
Lendl
Simmons was off to an
encouraging start hitting
five fours to reach 29 before he was caught.
Ramdin and Russell
(10 not out) put on 70 for
the fifth wicket which began when Andre Fletcher,
who scored 40, opted to
sacrifice himself after he
and Ramdin ended up at
the same end in a running
mix up.
Fletcher, who top
scored in the first T20 on
Saturday, smashed three

fours and one six.
Ramdin carried on
through to the end to be
unbeaten on 55 off 31
balls in an innings which
included three sixes and
three fours.
Chasing the 160 target, New Zealand were
struggling at 79-5 before
a 68-run partnership between Ross Taylor and
Luke Ronchi turned the
innings around.
Taylor played the anchor role with 39 off 41
balls while Ronchi belted
an unbeaten 51 off 28 deliveries in an innings that
included four fours and
two sixes.
The pair were particularly harsh on Bravo in
the 15th over when they
took 17 runs to reduce the
target from 54 off 36 balls
to a more manageable 37
off 30.
They also took 15 off
the 17th over by Jason
Holder.
Jesse
Ryder
was
dropped twice as he raced
to a quick 23 in nine balls,
and Brendon McCullum
received a life on his way
to 17.
Two chances were
missed to remove man of
the match Ronchi on the
first ball he faced.
Andre
Russell
dropped a caught and
bowled opportunity and
when Ronchi scampered
through for a quick single Tino Best was astray
with his run out throw
at the stumps. (Jamaica
Observer)

A

lec
Burns,
Chairman
of
the
Selection
Committee,
Trinidad
and
Tobago
Cricket
Board
(TTCB)
last
Friday confirmed that
Dwayne Bravo will replace Denesh Ramdin
as captain of the national 50 overs team for
the Regional Super50
competition starting on
January 30.
The
announcement
was made at a press
conference held at the
Queen’s Park Oval where
NGC renewed their partnership with the TTCB
for three more years.
Asked to explain the
rationale in handing
over the reigns to Bravo,
Burns said, “we thought
it best to choose Bravo

Dwayne Bravo

as captain and continue that process (syncing) with the West Indies
team
and
Trinidad
team,” he explained.
The former TT pacer further stated that by
changing captain, it will
“take the pressure off
Denesh a bit and let him
concentrate on his batting a bit more (which)
will be the best thing for

our team at this point in
time,” he declared.
But with Bravo having a poor record since
replacing Darren Sammy
as ODI captain of the
Windies— failing to
take the Windies past
the group stage at the
ICC Champions Trophy,
not advancing to the final of the tri-nation series involving India and
Sri Lanka, losing the
five-match series against
Pakistan 3-1, the threematch series against
India 2-1 and drawing
the recently concluded
series vs New Zealand
2-2—Burns was questioned further whether
the selectors took into
consideration Bravo’s results while at the helm.
Ramdin last year skip-

resident
of
the
Athletics
Association
of
Guyana (AAG) Aubrey
Hutson believes that
2014 will be a better
year for athletics.
“The essence of athletics is competition, we
are going to have two national seniors this year
to make up for 2013 but
we are still working on
the calendar, we are still
to meet with the coaches
to make sure they agree
and approve of the calendar,” he said.
“We have a lot of stuff
planned; my word to the
athletes would be to con-

tinue to train hard because the competitions
are going to come.
“There is going to be a
lot of work this year and
we are looking at beefing
up our field events, especially after Inter Guiana
Games (IGG) last year…
so we are looking to see
how best we can make
the field events attractive,” Hutson stated.

Jumping standards

He noted that jumping standards for the
high jump are currently on the way to Guyana
from the USA, while the
AAG will be looking to
modify the Young Men’s

Christian
Association
(YMCA) long jump pit.
Hutson touched too
on the reason for the incomplete Road to Rio
plan for the Summer
Olympics.
“To put a plan out
there in isolation is not
what we want to do; we
just don’t need to put a
plan out because people want a plan, what
we are doing right now
is that we are going
through the methodology of the plan.
“We are looking at
what we want to be
achieved and pointing
out who we believe can

achieve them and get
there, but it’s not a case
that we are not working
on something.
“We want the plan
to be firm and to last
so that it can be tested every six months to
find progress and make
changes if we need to,”
Hutson said.
Meanwhile, as it is
midway through the first
month of 2014, the first
competition of the AAG
is slated for January
29 as a cross country
event before heading
into the developmental
meets during February.
(Guyana Times)